South Korea’s intelligence service had previously put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the high casualty rate could be down to an unfamiliar battlefield environment and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks.
Pyongyang’s soldiers were also being “utilised as expendable frontline assault units”, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said, speaking last week after a briefing by South Korea’s spy agency.
“DANGEROUS EXPANSION”
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a “breakthrough document”.
North Korean state media said on Friday that Putin sent a New Year’s message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying “the bilateral ties between our two countries have been elevated after our talks in June in Pyongyang”.
Ukraine’s allies have called Pyongyang’s growing involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine a “dangerous expansion” of the conflict.
Seoul’s military believes that North Korea was seeking to modernise its conventional warfare capabilities through combat experience gained in the Russia-Ukraine war.
