With reports of inadequate training and mounting casualties among North Korean troops on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, TaiwanPlus talks with NK News correspondent Anton Sokolin to learn more.
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00:00Ukraine and South Korean officials both say that North Korean troops have suffered hundreds of casualties at the front line of the war in Ukraine.
00:09What details do we know so far?
00:11Well, there are multiple sources giving slightly different estimates.
00:15The latest estimate we've seen is from the South Korean side.
00:20South Korean lawmakers were briefed by the National Intelligence Service
00:24that actually 100 North Korean soldiers were killed in action in the Kursk region of Russia,
00:31whereas the number of wounded could rise up to 1,000.
00:37And at the same time, we are seeing slightly different mixed estimates from the Ukrainian side
00:43because usually they count dead bodies a bit differently.
00:51They include, let's say, casualties.
00:54When they count casualties, they include both wounded and killed.
00:57And right now the number stands at 200, both killed and wounded.
01:02What do these casualties mean for future cooperation between North Korea and Russian militaries?
01:08Well, there are several implications on the horizon right now.
01:14The first obvious one is that whatever hype the Russian war bloggers raised
01:20around the issue of North Korean troops being actually very effective
01:24and prescribing them all kinds of heroic acts like recapturing one of the villages in the Kursk region
01:32are probably not true, or at least it casts a serious blow to their reputation.
01:38Secondly, we are seeing that the North Korean troops that were particularly stationed in those regions,
01:46in those particular areas where they had clashes with Ukrainian forces,
01:50are not probably very adapted to countering attacks, specifically Ukrainian drone strikes.
01:58And it also undermines their reputation as a reliable force,
02:04which means that Russians, if they want to continue using these particular units again,
02:10they would probably have to pay more attention to training.
02:14This lack of training is something that Ukrainian military officials have also commented on,
02:19saying that North Korean soldiers are under-equipped and under-trained.
02:23What are some additional details about this lack of training?
02:26South Korean lawmakers that were briefed by the spy agency
02:32have said that whereas indeed some of these troops are supposed to be coming from elite forces
02:40and have somewhat better training, they do lack understanding of modern warfare,
02:46they lack an expertise of how to fight drones, how to counter drone attacks, how to spot them.
02:54Several videos that we've seen so far feature North Korean soldiers looking a bit dazzled
03:00and I would say surprised when drones start flying over their heads.
03:07They ran frantically, they tried to avoid the drones.
03:12So all of this means that they haven't been very well prepared.