More than 100 of North Korea’s best “Storm” troops have been killed and a further 1,000 injured fighting alongside Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers on Thursday that the troops’ losses came in their first battles for Russia, The New York Times reported.
One lawmaker, Lee Seong-kweun, also told reporters that a general-ranking officer may be among the dead, the report said.
North Korean troops arrived in Russia in October. Ukraine said the following month that it attacked North Korean forces for the first time.
Since then, North Korean troops’ casualties have mounted. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that preliminary estimates say over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Russia’s Kursk region.
That region, into which Ukraine launched an offensive in August, is where North Korean troops are now fighting.
North Korea’s “Storm” Corps are among the most well-trained in Pyongyang’s military, as well as the most indoctrinated, the Times reported.
But despite that elite status, they were still not ready for the fight in Ukraine, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said.
It told lawmakers that they were poorly prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.
It’s not the first time reports have suggested North Korea’s forces are ill-prepared for the war.
The BBC reported that the Storm troops get more advanced training than other soldiers, but they are still underfed and can be malnourished.
Ukrainian officials and soldiers have also said that North Korean troops have been killed by drones that they did not realize were dangerous.
Ukrainian intelligence previously reported that North Korean troops accidentally killed eight Russian soldiers in Kursk, describing it as a “friendly fire” incident caused by a language barrier.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reportedly told lawmakers that North Korean troops were sent to Russia so quickly that Moscow could not properly integrate them into the military and that they only learned a few military phrases in Russian, like “open fire,” “artillery,” and “in position” before being sent to battle.
But warfare experts warn that the troops’ potential impact should not be dismissed, especially given that Russia’s tactics have been to use poorly trained soldiers to overwhelm Ukraine.
For its part, Ukraine is reportedly trying to get North Korean troops to surrender, making videos and dropping leaflets on troops in a bid to get them to desert. It has also warned that Russia will treat North Korean troops like disposable cannon fodder, as it appears to have done with many of its own troops.
However, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said that North Korea appeared to be preparing to put more troops in Russia, the Times reported.
Zelenskyy also predicted that North Korean soldiers will at some stage be sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
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