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A military parade fills Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang on Feb. 8, 2023, which marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army. (KCNA/Yonhap)

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said that over 10,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia and that a substantial number of them have been transferred to Kursk and other areas on the front line.

On Oct. 23, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that 3,000 North Korean troops had already reached Russia and that the number would reach 10,000 by the end of the year. But the latest announcement shows that the deployment is proceeding faster than expected.

“A couple of weeks ago, the NIS predicted [the scale of] the deployment would reach about 12,000 by the end of the year. But military intelligence in South Korea and the US believes there are currently more than 10,000 [North Korean troops] in Russia,” said Jeon Ha-gyu, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, in the regular press briefing on Tuesday morning.

Jeon was asked during the briefing whether the deployed North Korean troops had been sent to the battlefield or engaged in combat. 

“The South Korean military and other related intelligence agencies have been closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and sharing information about it. I understand a variety of reports are in circulation based on several news sources here in Korea and in Ukraine and other countries. But at the current stage, I don’t have any new facts to provide you,” the ministry spokesperson said.

As for a report quoting a government official who said that 40 North Korean soldiers had been killed in combat, Jeon said, “I’m not able to provide confirmation about individual events.”

“[Secretary of State Antony Blinken] said on Friday that as many as 8,000 North Korean troops had made their way to Kursk. We now assess that as many as 10,000 have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing on Monday.

Miller added that he’d “seen public reporting” indicating that North Korean troops are already in combat, but “can’t speak to that definitively.”

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder was asked in a press briefing Monday about claims made by senior Ukrainian officials that small groups of North Korean troops, including engineers, have already engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces.

“We're looking into those, but at this point cannot corroborate those reports,” Ryder said in response to the question.

When another reporter asked if the North Korean units would be filling gaps in the Russian line or operating separately, Ryder said, “We don't know at this point, and we'll see. We anticipate in the relatively near future we will know more as we see how Russia and North Korea opt to employ these forces.”

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, senior staff writer

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]