SEOUL — A North Korea n soldier who was captured while fighting in Russia's war on Ukraine died of his wounds, South Korea's spy agency said on Friday. Pyongyang has deployed thousands of troops to reinforce Russia's military, including in the Kursk border region, where Ukraine mounted a shock border incursion in August.
One of those North Korean soldiers was captured alive by the Ukrainian army on Thursday, a South Korean intelligence source told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that the location where he was seized was not known.Hours later, Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said the soldier had succumbed to his wounds.'It has been confirmed through an allied intelligence agency that the North Korean soldier captured alive on Dec. 26th has just passed away due to worsening wounds,' the South's spy agency said in a statement.Friday's confirmation came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been 'killed or wounded' so far as they joined Russian troops in combat.The NIS previously put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 1,000, saying the high casualty rate could be down to an unfamiliar battlefield environment and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks.Pyongyang's soldiers were also being 'utilized as expendable frontline assault units,' lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun said last week after a briefing by South Korea's spy agency.'Dangerous expansion'North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow signed in June came into force this month, with Russian President Vladimir Putin hailing it as a 'breakthrough document.'North Korean state media reported on Friday that Putin sent a New Year's message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying, 'the bilateral ties between our two countries have been elevated after our talks in June in Pyongyan
NORTH KOREA UKRAINE WAR RUSSIA SOLDIER DEATH MILITARY ALLIANCE
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