‘Hundreds of North Koreans killed or injured in Russian offensive in Kursk’

In the war in Ukraine, hundreds of North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured at the front in the Russian region of Kursk in recent days. This is what a senior American soldier said to the AP news agency. It is the first time that a large number of victims among North Koreans have been reported. The American did not mention exact numbers.

It is certain that there will be hard fighting in Kursk. The Ukrainian army yesterday reported 68 Russian attacks in one day. Ukrainian commandos are said to have killed 50 North Koreans and injured 47 in three days.

The Kremlin rarely says anything about numbers of victims and has not responded yet. The number of dead and injured on the Ukrainian side is also unknown.

Hundreds of deaths and injuries is “significant”, says professor of military-operational sciences Han Bouwmeester of the Dutch Defense Academy. But it doesn’t surprise him either. “The fighting has been much bloodier in recent months than before. There are 1,500 casualties per day on the Russian side.”

He points out that the numbers mentioned are no more than a rough estimate. Because how do you determine how many deaths and injuries occur on the enemy’s side?

“That will largely be with intelligence. Estimations are being made, so there are impacts and we don’t see anything anymore. You can compare satellite images with that. You can also possibly send drones there.”

Only later can a more precise picture be formed. Found numbers are often corrected.

Former Army Commander Mart de Kruif does not know whether to call the stated number of dead and wounded on the North Korean side a lot. He does think that the number of deaths will be relatively high.

The ratio of dead to wounded in wartime is normally about one in three, he says. In this war it is more likely to be one on one. This has to do with the fact that this war is fought with many heavy weapons.

“It used to be that most wounds were gunshot wounds,” he says. “You can treat this if you are hit in the arm or leg. But the fragmentation effect of artillery is often such that you get much more life-threatening injuries, which are much more difficult to treat. And also under difficult circumstances because the evacuation of the wounded, especially at Russian side, is very limited.”

The American soldier with whom AP spoke said that the North Koreans lack combat experience. Partly because of this, there would be relatively many deaths and injuries on their side. Han Bouwmeester mentions another aspect that is to the detriment of the North Koreans.

The soldiers sent by North Korea are special forcestrained to slip through the lines in small clubs and carry out limited actions behind them, such as destroying infrastructure.

“But not more than that and not to fight with armored vehicles in a somewhat larger conflict,” he says. “Their weapons and tactics are then inadequate. If you do send those types of troops to the front, you have to take into account that you will have an increased number of casualties.”

The cultural difference and the language barrier are also disadvantageous for the North Koreans. That has already led to so-called blue on blueincidents, in which the Koreans shot at Chechens who were fighting on the Russian side.

“That communication and coordination is not going well at all,” says Bouwmeester. “The parties and clubs do not know each other’s whereabouts. And then they shoot at each other.”

North Korea sent 10,000 to 12,000 well-trained soldiers this fall to help the Russians. These are mainly used in the infantry. The North Koreans have been fighting at the front in Kursk for a week.

Part of the region was unexpectedly taken by the Ukrainian army last summer. The Ukrainians are slowly but surely being pushed back.

It appears that the Russians want to take control of the entire region before January 20. Then they will not have to negotiate about this if peace talks come to fruition under the new American President Trump.