North Korean troops withdraw from the front after losses

North Korean troops withdraw from the front after losses

in the Kursk region, Russia, have not been sighted at the front for several weeks. A Ukrainian military spokesman reported on Friday that the troops from Pyongyang were probably withdrawn due to considerable losses. According to Colonel Oleksandr, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, there have been no sightings of North Korean soldiers for about three weeks.

massive losses and withdrawal of the North Korean troops

The use in the Kursk region

The North Korean troops have been stationed in the Kursk region at least November to ward off the Ukrainian offensive on the southern border of Russia. In a speech in Davos, Switzerland, the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj said that they were still in the Kursk region. "The Russian armed forces were not enough to push us out," said Selenskyj, pointing out that 60,000 Russian and 12,000 North Korean soldiers are present in Kursk. He also confirmed that a third of the North Korean troops had fallen.

The brutal tactics of North Korean soldiers

CNN had previously reported on the brutal and almost suicidal tactics of North Korean soldiers. In some cases, they set fire to grenades so as not to be captured by Ukrainian forces, and wrote loyalty warries to North Korea's top guide Kim Jong un on the battlefield. A commander of the 6th Special Operations Forces Regiment, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, expressed that the North Korean soldiers were "all young, trained and robust fighters", but were not confronted with drones in the fight in the past. "At best, they are prepared for the war realities of the 1980s," he added.

skills and strategies of the North Korean troops

Another soldier of a battalion reported that when shooting drones from about 100 meters away, the North Koreans had shown good shooting skills, which indicates a high degree of training in North Korea. Nevertheless, Russia seems to use the troops as foot soldiers and to use them for mass grabbing despite high losses in Kursk.

Current developments on the front

Recently, Ukraine has made progress in the Kursk region. According to a current management report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington thinking factory, there were references to Ukrainian progress on January 26. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the Russian armed forces have recaptured the village of Nikolayevo-Daryino in the Course region, which is located on the border with Ukraine.

official confirmations are missing

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang officially recognized the presence of North Korean troops in Russia. Last year, months before the posting of the North Korean soldiers to Russia, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pioneering defense pact. In this pact it was promised to use all available funds to make military support in the event of an attack.

This pact is considered the most important agreement that Russia and North Korea have signed for decades, and is regarded as a revival of their mutual defense package from the time of the Cold War.

This reporting was supported by CNN employees Nick Paton Walsh, Rebecca Wright, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Brice Laine and Helen Regan.