About 600 N. Korean soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine

Some 600 North Korean soldiers are believed to have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday, adding that more than 4,000 North Korean soldiers have been also wounded.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) gave the assessment during a closed-door briefing for the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, two days after North Korea confirmed for the first time that Pyongyang has deployed troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

North Korea has sent about 15,000 troops to Russia and there have been some 4,700 casualties, including about 600 deaths, the NIS told lawmakers, according to Reps. Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party and Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party.

North Korea has deployed its troops to Russia over two phases, and fighting has decreased since April after Moscow took back most areas of its front-line region of Kursk, the lawmakers quoted the NIS as saying.

The spy agency has yet to detect signs of another troop deployment by North Korea but did not rule out its possibility, they said.

In January, the NIS told lawmakers that at least 300 North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia had been killed, with some 2,700 others injured.

In return for troop deployment and weapons exports to Russia, the spy agency believes North Korea has received a spy satellite launchpad, drones, electronic warfare equipment and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

The two countries are also in talks for industrial modernization in 14 sectors, including aviation, energy and tourism, with about 15,000 North Korean laborers being dispatched to Russia, it said.

The NIS also believes that there is a high possibility that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not attend Russia’s Victory Day ceremony on May 9, citing the lack of signs of security measures if Kim were to take part.

The NIS told lawmakers that Choe Ryong-hae, chairman of the North’s parliamentary standing committee, or other officials could instead attend the 80th anniversary ceremony of the Soviet Union’s victory over Germany in the Second World War.

It said that efforts for Kim’s visit to Russia could be reset as the two countries’ relations have reached a new “turning point” after their confirmation of the North’s troop deployment to Russia.

On Monday, North Korea confirmed for the first time that it has deployed troops to Russia after Russia’s top general also made the confirmation in video talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

Separately, the NIS said that there have been 11 cases of Chinese nationals filming military and other state-protected facilities in South Korea without authorization since last June.

The Chinese nationals were mostly tourists or students, and they took photos of military bases, airports, ports and NIS facilities.

“(They) claim to be taking photographs to record their travel, but there appears to be plentiful intent to evade local laws by using high-performance cameras and walkie-talkies outside the perimeters of areas enforced with the military installation law,” it was quoted as saying.

The NIS said it views the actions as “low-intensity” intelligence activities intended to acquire intelligence on South Korean and U.S. assets and weaken security capabilities by dispersing counterintelligence efforts.

It called for the need to revise espionage laws so that they apply not only to North Koreans but also to nationals from other countries.