North Korean Troops in Ukraine Hit 1,000 Casualties

Licensed by the author from Envato Elements

When we started 2024, I didn’t see North Korean troops exchanging gunfire with Ukrainian forces in my crystal ball. Weapons and equipment, sure. But troops?

North Korea’s military, long the iron fist keeping Kim Jong-un’s totalitarian regime firmly in place, has made a surprise appearance in Kursk this year.

With 1.3 million active-duty soldiers, the Korean People’s Army has served as both the backbone of Pyongyang’s domestic control and its chief instrument of South Korean intimidation.

But these days, Kim’s forces are flexing their muscle far from home — in Ukrainian-controlled territory — where over 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to boost Russia’s war effort.

The gamble has already cost Pyongyang dearly. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced recently that over 1,100 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured since they entered combat in Ukraine.

This figure includes over 100 deaths reported within just the first few weeks of their deployment.

These grim numbers come as no surprise given the circumstances of their rushed deployment. Although I do find it interesting that the North Korean soldiers have been collecting their dead, rather than leaving them on the battlefield to rot the way the…