UK intelligence reports significant losses for North Korean forces near Kursk

British intelligence has revealed that by mid-January 2025, North Korean (DPRK) forces suffered substantial losses during their offensive operations against Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region.

According to a report from the UK Ministry of Defence on its social media page, DPRK forces lost approximately 4,000 men, with around a quarter of those casualties being killed in action, Caliber.Az reports.

Latest Defence intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 24 January 2025.

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/Idzs6a74bB #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/NQftcmX5fM

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 24, 2025

"As of mid-January 2025, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) forces had highly likely sustained around 4,000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Kursk oblast, Russia. Of these, approximately a quarter were killed in action.

The total casualties amount to more than a third of the approximately 11,000 DRPK combat troops deployed to the Kursk region. The high rate of DPRK losses in a short time period has almost certainly significantly deteriorated DPRK forces’ capacity to conduct offensive combat operations in support of Russia’s attempts to push Ukrainian forces out of Kursk.

Despite significant combat casualties, DPRK troops have only achieved tactical gains in Kursk. Russian and DPRK forces are almost certainly experiencing interoperability difficulties. The two forces do not share a common language and DPRK troops almost certainly have difficulties integrating into Russia’s command-and-control structure," the post reads.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s military announced on January 24 that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia to support its war efforts in Ukraine, despite heavy casualties among North Korean soldiers already deployed.

In a statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that North Korea’s soldiers in the Russian-Ukraine war have faced significant losses, attributing this to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the flat terrain of Ukraine’s battlefields, Caliber.Az reports via international media sources.

Drones and artillery strikes have reportedly been particularly devastating.

According to intelligence from the US, South Korea, and Ukraine, North Korea has been supplying Russia with artillery and other conventional weapons while deploying around 10,000–12,000 troops to Russia last October. Recent estimates indicate that hundreds of these soldiers have died, with thousands more injured.

By Vafa Guliyeva