According to the U.S. government-funded nonprofit news outlet, the newly deployed North Korean forces look to be a "replenishment of battlefield losses" to replace those killed or wounded, with an assessment of the exact number in the latest deployment underway.
Last month, South Korea's spy agency speculated that around 1,000 additional soldiers were sent to Moscow's frontline region of Kursk, a territory currently occupied by Ukraine, with the possibility of further troop dispatches.
Yoo Yong-won, a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party who recently visited Ukraine, said that around 5,000 soldiers were newly deployed to Russia, citing Ukraine sources. Of those, 1,500 have reportedly been stationed along the frontlines in Kursk, while 3,500 are undergoing field training in the area.
Earlier this week, Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said, "Since mid-December 2024, [North Korean soldiers] have been directly involved in combat operations. In the first phase, they suffered heavy losses. They were then withdrawn for recovery and rest. The losses were about 4,000 out of 11,000..... However, starting from the first decade of February, they began to be actively used again on the front in the Kursk region."
He also pointed out that the deployment has provided North Korean soldiers with experience in modern warfare, explaining that they "gained real combat experience with new technologies, new tactics, artillery combined with drones, extensive use of FPV drones, new electronic warfare tools, and new reconnaissance systems."
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