South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday that an injured North Korean soldier, captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for Russia in Kursk, has succumbed to his wounds.
“We confirmed through a friendly nation’s intelligence organization that a North Korean solider, captured alive on Dec. 26, died a short while ago as [his] wounds worsened,” the NIS said.
South Korea’s intelligence agency revealed on Friday that it quickly verified the first capture of a North Korean soldier fighting for Russia, thanks to “real-time information sharing” with a “friendly nation’s intelligence organization.”
The soldier was reportedly captured on Thursday while fighting in Kursk, a Russian region taken by Ukrainian forces in August. Struggling to reclaim Kursk without redeploying experienced troops from the Ukrainian front lines, Russia enlisted approximately 12,000 North Korean mercenaries for its counteroffensive. The North Koreans were allegedly provided with Russian uniforms, fake identity cards, and instructions to identify themselves as Yakuts or Buryats—Siberian ethnic groups with Asian features.
According to Ukrainian officials, the North Korean fighters have performed poorly. They lack battlefield experience, familiarity with the terrain, and knowledge of modern tactics like drone warfare. Compounding their struggles is a significant language barrier with Russian troops.
This language gap reportedly caused a friendly-fire incident on December 14, when North Korean soldiers mistakenly attacked an allied Chechen unit in Kursk.
“The North Korean troops are being ‘consumed’ in front-line assaults on an unfamiliar battlefield of open fields. They lack the skills to counter drone attacks,” South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) assessed this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s treatment of the North Korean forces, alleging efforts to conceal their involvement. “The Russians are so desperate to hide the extent of North Korean participation that they are attempting to literally burn the faces off dead North Korean soldiers,” Zelensky said on December 16.
Zelensky added, “There is not a single reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin. And even after they do, Russia has only humiliation for them.”
The NIS estimates over 100 North Korean troops have been killed in Kursk, with another 1,000 wounded. Zelensky suggested the true casualties could be much higher—possibly 3,000. Some hospitals in Kursk are reportedly treating injured North Koreans under heavy Russian guard.
The first North Korean prisoner of war was captured by Ukrainian special operations forces, who posted photos of the injured soldier. Independent media have not verified the authenticity of these images.
Ukrainian forces also claim to have recovered a North Korean soldier’s notebook detailing drone warfare tactics, along with a handwritten note from a dead soldier that appeared to be a birthday greeting for a friend.
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby condemned Moscow and Pyongyang for exploiting North Koreans as cannon fodder. “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable, sending them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby said Friday.