North Korean military contingent in Kursk Oblast may be destroyed by mid-April – ISW

The entire North Korean military contingent currently in the Kursk Oblast may be killed or wounded in combat by mid-April of this year if the dynamics of their losses remain at the current level.

This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

As noted by ISW, in early January 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that 3,800 North Korean servicemen were killed or wounded in the Kursk Oblast.

ISW also recalled that Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated on November 5, 2024 that the North Korean troops were participating in "small" clashes in the Kursk Oblast. And russian military bloggers began to state in early December that the North Korean troops were participating in larger-scale hostilities in the region.

Taking these claims into account, ISW calculated the daily losses of North Korean troops since they began participating in major battles in early December. According to analysts' calculations, the North Korean contingent loses approximately 92 soldiers every day.

"North Korea reportedly transferred roughly 12,000 North Korean personnel to Kursk Oblast, and the entirety of this North Korean contingent in Kursk Oblast may be killed or wounded in roughly 12 weeks (about mid-April 2025) should North Korean forces continue to suffer similarly high casualty rates in the future," the ISW summarized.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on Saturday, January 11, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Defense Forces had captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk Oblast. According to him, this task was not easy: usually the russians and other military personnel from North Korea finish off their wounded and do everything to prevent the preservation of evidence of the participation of another state - North Korea - in the war against Ukraine.

The SSU also reported that the prisoners were taken to Kyiv for primary investigative measures. They are being held in proper conditions that meet the requirements of international law. The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or russian, so communication with them is carried out through Korean translators in cooperation with the intelligence of South Korea's NIS.

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