U.S. Cites ‘Indications’ North Korean Soldiers Died Fighting for Russia

The Pentagon spokesman said the North Koreans had entered combat last week in the Russian region of Kursk, but he did not specify the number of casualties.

The Pentagon has seen “indications” that the North Korean forces who have been sent to Russia to help the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine have suffered their first casualties, according to a U.S. official.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the North Koreans had entered combat last week in the Russian region of Kursk.

Russia has been trying to recapture territory in the region after Ukraine seized parts of it in a surprise cross-border offensive launched in August.

“We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk,” General Ryder said. He added: “We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded.”

General Ryder gave the assessment a day after Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that at least 30 North Korean soldiers had been killed or injured along the front line in Kursk over the weekend, in the Russian villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka. The claims could not be independently verified.

The move this fall to deploy thousands of North Korean forces in Russia’s war against Ukraine rattled Kyiv’s allies and set the stage for a larger conflict between Moscow and the West.

Ukrainian officials said initially that they were frustrated by what they described as a muted response from allies after they learned of the deployment of North Korean forces to Russia.

But last month, President Biden directly responded, granting Ukraine permission to use American long-range missiles against certain military targets across the border because Russia had brought North Korean troops into the war, U.S. officials said at the time.

In June, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, revived a mutual defense pledge, deepening ties that stretch beyond the Cold War.

Ukraine and South Korea first warned about the movement of North Korean troops to Russia in mid-October. In early November, General Ryder said that at least 10,000 North Korean troops had traveled thousands of miles from eastern Russia to the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

The Pentagon said the Kremlin had amassed a combined force of 50,000 Russian and North Korean troops to push out Ukrainian forces from Russia.

There have been daily rumors about the North Koreans — about what they are eating, where they are and how they are communicating with Russians.

The remarks on Monday, however, represented the first official confirmation by the Pentagon that the North Koreans are engaged in combat in Kursk. So far, the deployment of the North Koreans has been limited to Russian territory.

Oleksiy Melnyk, a military analyst and former Ukrainian commander, said the number of troops was relatively small, but it could have huge implications if Russia gives North Korea any advanced technology for its help.

The move also was designed to provoke the West, he said. “It’s just testing the ground,” said Mr. Melnyk, now a senior official at the Razumkov Center, a nonprofit institute in Kyiv. “What will the Western reaction be?”

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Saturday that Russia had begun to use a significant number of North Korean soldiers in assaults in Kursk. He also said that Ukraine had information “suggesting their use could extend to other parts of the front line.”

Yurii Shyvala contributed reporting.