South Korea’s intelligence service had beforehand put the variety of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the excessive casualty fee may very well be right down to an unfamiliar battlefield setting and their lack of functionality to counter drone assaults.
Pyongyang’s troopers had been additionally being “utilised as expendable frontline assault units”, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun mentioned, talking final week after a briefing by South Korea’s spy company.
“DANGEROUS EXPANSION”
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their army ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A landmark defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June got here into pressure this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a “breakthrough doc”.
North Korean state media mentioned on Friday that Putin despatched a New 12 months’s message to North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, saying “the bilateral ties between our two nations have been elevated after our talks in June in Pyongyang”.
Ukraine’s allies have known as Pyongyang’s rising involvement in Russia’s struggle in Ukraine a “harmful enlargement” of the battle.
Seoul’s army believes that North Korea was in search of to modernise its typical warfare capabilities by means of fight expertise gained within the Russia-Ukraine struggle.
