South Korea says North Korean troops already fight in Kursk region

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has confirmed that North Korean troops are now in Russia’s Kursk region, where they are “already engaging in combat” against Ukraine, according to the English-language Yonhap news agency.

“North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia have moved to the Kursk region over the past two weeks and their deployment to battlefields has been completed,” the intelligence agency reported.

Additional intelligence is still being collected for further analysis, though specific details remain undisclosed, the South Korean agency added. 

A week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the first casualties among North Korean troops fighting on Russia’s side, Ukrainian Pravda reported.

“Currently, 11,000 North Korean soldiers are present on Russian territory near the Ukrainian border, specifically in the Kursk region. Some of these troops have already taken part in combat operations against Ukrainian forces, and there are already casualties,” Zelenskyy stated.

Additionally, Financial Times journalist Gideon Rachman revealed that North Korean soldiers, who’ve lived in an informational blackhole, have gained unrestricted access to the internet in Russia, with many addicted to lewd videos of a sexual nature.