North Korea appears to have sent more troops to aid Russia, Seoul says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to Russia, after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.

The National Intelligence Service said in a brief statement it was trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.

The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an address on Feb. 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there.

North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials. North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they’ve become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain.

In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000-3,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and February.

South Korea, the U.S. and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia as well.

During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S. agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials weren’t present at the talks. That marked an extraordinary shift in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Observers say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could send more troops to Russia to win further Russian assistance before the war ends.

韩国首尔（美联社）——韩国情报机构周四表示，朝鲜似乎已向俄罗斯增派军队，此前部署在俄乌前线的朝鲜士兵遭受了重大伤亡。

国家情报院在一份简短声明中表示，他们正在努力确定朝鲜究竟向俄罗斯增派了多少军队。

美国国家情报院（NIS）评估认为，在2月初朝鲜军队据报道暂时撤出俄罗斯库尔斯克地区后，朝鲜军队已重新部署到该地区的战线。乌克兰总统泽连斯基在2月7日的讲话中证实，乌克兰在库尔斯克地区发动了新的攻势，并表示朝鲜军队正在与俄罗斯军队并肩作战。

据美国、韩国和乌克兰情报官员称，朝鲜一直在向俄罗斯提供大量常规武器，去年秋天还向俄罗斯派遣了约1万至1.2万名士兵。朝鲜士兵纪律严明、训练有素，但观察人士表示，由于缺乏实战经验且不熟悉地形，他们在俄乌战场上很容易成为无人机和炮火袭击的目标。

今年1月，美国国家情报院称约有300名朝鲜士兵死亡，另有2700人受伤。泽连斯基此前称朝鲜伤亡人数为4000人，但美国的估计较低，约为1200人。

周四早些时候，韩国《中央日报》援引未具名消息人士报道称，1月至2月期间，又有1000至3000名朝鲜士兵被部署到库尔斯克。

韩国、美国及其盟友担心，俄罗斯可能会向朝鲜转让高科技武器技术，以换取朝鲜的核武器计划大幅提升。预计朝鲜还将从俄罗斯获得经济和其他方面的援助。

上周在沙特阿拉伯举行的会谈中，俄罗斯和美国同意着手结束战争，并改善两国的外交和经济关系。乌克兰官员没有出席会谈。这标志着唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的美国外交政策发生了非同寻常的转变，也标志着美国不再致力于因俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争而孤立俄罗斯。

观察人士称，朝鲜领导人金正恩可能会向俄罗斯增派军队，以在战争结束前赢得俄罗斯的进一步援助。