North Korea has provided Russia with around 200 long-range artillery pieces to boost its war effort against Ukraine, the Yonhap news agency reported on Feb. 11, citing South Korea's Defense Ministry.
Seoul further warned that Pyongyang is likely preparing to send additional troops and arms to back Russia's war, confirming earlier warnings by the Ukrainian intelligence.
North Korea has reportedly also supplied ballistic missiles, millions of artillery shells, and other arms to Moscow. In addition, the country has deployed up to 12,000 troops to Russia's Kursk Oblast to support Russian forces in countering a Ukrainian cross-border incursion launched in early August 2024.
The South Korean Defense Ministry suspects that North Korea is receiving Russia's technological assistance with nuclear-powered submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in exchange for its military support, Yonhap reported.
According to the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, North Korea is also expected to begin drone production this year with Russian technical assistance.
At least 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 wounded fighting in Russia's Kursk Oblast, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) claimed in mid-January.
Ukraine placed North Korean losses to as many as 4,000 killed and injured. Kyiv’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov nevertheless predicted that North Korea might soon send reinforcements to Russia, namely gun and rocket artillery units.
The New York Times reported on Jan. 30 that North Korean troops had been pulled from the front, and a Special Operations Forces spokesperson confirmed to the Kyiv Independent at the time that Ukraine's special forces had not faced Pyongyang's soldiers for three weeks.
On Feb. 7, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that North Korean soldiers were "brought in again" to Kursk Oblast, a day after Russian media claimed Ukraine had launched a new offensive in the Russian region.
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