The UK Ministry of Defence, citing intelligence data, reported that the losses amount to more than 50% of the initial contingent of approximately 11,000 troops that Pyongyang deployed to the russian border region, Ukrinform reported.
According to British intelligence, based on open-source information, the DPRK later deployed a limited additional number of troops to the Kursk region, the report states. “The significant losses of North Korean troops were almost certainly the result of large-scale, extremely exhausting infantry assaults”, - the report says.
The intelligence report also recalled that on June 4, russia’s Security Council Secretary and former Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu visited the DPRK to meet with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, marking his second trip there in under three months.
“Shoigu was likely a key intermediary in the negotiations with the DPRK regarding its support of russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. DPRK operations have so far been limited to the Kursk oblast. Any decision to deploy troops on the internationally recognized sovereign territory of Ukraine in support of russian forces would almost certainly require approval from both russian dictator putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un”, - the UK Ministry of Defence report states.