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North Korean troops sent to fight alongside Russia in its war against Ukraine have not been seen in battle for several weeks, raising speculation that they have been withdrawn after suffering heavy losses, according to South Korea’s spy agency.

The National Intelligence Service in Seoul this week confirmed media reports that North Korean troops had been pulled from the frontline around the middle of January.

North Korea began sending an estimated 11,000 troops to the Russian Kursk region in late 2024, soon after the North’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, agreed a mutual defence pact designed to strengthen their alliance against what they called a US-led “western hegemony”.

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[-] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Whoa it's almost like they weren't there in the first place :0

[-] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 28 points 1 month ago

My girlfriend has not been seen for several weeks after going back to Canada

[-] veroxii@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago

That's rough buddy.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 month ago

Yea I haven't seen actual proof, and every source is a second-hand "sources say."

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

All I have seen was two allegedly captured North Korean POW's. Not much to show for a supposed force of 10k

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn57z316y02o

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago

The keyword there is "allegedly." There wasn't hard proof of them actually being from the DPRK, and moreover that's not 10k like you pointed out correctly.

[-] mercano@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

It’s not like Russia is going to issue press releases on its troop deployments.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

Sure, but that doesn't mean "sources say" is a good source coming from the same "sources" that claimed Iraq had WMD. The US and ROK Intelligence agencies aren't honest about their adversaries.

We know the DPRK and RF have a mutual defense treaty, and that the DPRK has been sending munitions. This has overwhelming evidence. What does not, appears to be DPRK troops fighting on the front lines or suffering "massive losses."

[-] mercano@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Point taken.

[-] Sagittarii@lemm.ee 22 points 1 month ago

Inventing a "problem" then "solving" it. Looks like they're learning from trump

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

it seems like it was a team of observers and probably there to measure the success of their rockets; like the americans are in ukraine to train them on how to use american weaponry.

[-] GenderIsOpSec@hexbear.net 38 points 1 month ago

So they did massive human wave attacks in Kursk suffering heavy losses but no bodies have been recovered? Damn, Juche Necromancy is real scared

[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

The bodies of North Korean soldiers dissolve upon death like the Ganados in Resident Evil 4

[-] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 18 points 1 month ago

raising speculation

l m a o

this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
86 points (94.8% liked)

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