U.S. Cites ‘Indications’ North Korean Soldiers Died Fighting for Russia

The Pentagon has seen “indications” that the North Korean forces who have been sent to Russia to help the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine have suffered their first casualties, according to a U.S. official.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the North Koreans had entered combat last week in the Russian region of Kursk.

Russia has been trying to recapture territory in the region after Ukraine seized parts of it in a surprise cross-border offensive launched in August.

“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk,” General Ryder said. He added: “We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

General Ryder gave the assessment a day after Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that at least 30 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured along the front line in Kursk over the weekend, in the Russian villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka. The claims could not be independently verified.

The move this fall to deploy thousands of North Korean forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine rattled Kyiv’s allies and set the stage for a larger conflict between Moscow and the West.