North Korea has sent additional troops to Russia, according to Seoul.

The National Intelligence Service of South Korea has determined that North Korea has deployed additional troops in Russia.

This was reported by KBS and Newsis.

According to intelligence reports, North Korean military personnel have returned to the front lines in the Kursk region after approximately a month of quiet.

North Korea has also deployed additional troops, although the exact number has yet to be confirmed.

This marks the second troop dispatch since October 2024. A military official in Seoul told KBS that this time North Korea appears to have sent over a thousand soldiers.

Recall that at the end of January, the New York Times reported that North Korean soldiers had not been seen at the front line for about two weeks, but they could return to the front in the Kursk region. Subsequently, South Korean intelligence confirmed the withdrawal of the troops.

At the same time, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, denied this. He stated that North Korean troops are still engaged in combat at the front line in the Kursk region, although their activity has decreased due to losses.

In February, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia has once again summoned soldiers from North Korea for battles in the Kursk region.

More on North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine

In October 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported receiving information about Russia preparing two units of North Korean soldiers, each consisting of 6,000 personnel. As of January, Zelensky reported that 4,000 soldiers from North Korea had been neutralized in the Kursk region.

Ukrainian military personnel share that North Korean soldiers do not wish to surrender; instead, they retrieve their comrades or resort to suicide when faced with the threat of capture. They also do not take prisoners—Ukrainian soldiers who attempted to surrender were killed.

In Russia, there are efforts to conceal the involvement of North Koreans in combat operations. According to the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they were listed as Tuvinians in official documents. Zelensky also mentioned instances of facial burning to make identification of the bodies impossible.