North Korea is accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia amid an increasing number of casualties, South Korea said on Friday, while Ukraine said the North’s additional support would mainly include missile and artillery troops. About 4,000 of the up to 12,000 North Korean troops dispatched to Russia’s Kursk region to help it in its war against Ukraine have been killed or wounded, according to Ukraine on Wednesday.
“It is estimated that the North Korean military is accelerating follow-up measures and preparations for additional troop deployments amid an increasing number of the casualties and prisoners of war that occurred four months into the Russian-Ukrainian war,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, on Friday, without elaborating.