This was reported by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kyrylo Budanov, in a comment to War Zone on January 31. However, the GUR hromadske noted that this information is still relevant.
According to Budanov, approximately 8,000 North Koreans are still fighting at the front line. However, recently they have been operating in a reduced capacity.
“We need to wait some time to see if there are real changes or just a decrease in activity for a few days,” he explained.
The media's report that North Korea is no longer at the front line was labeled “false” by the head of the GUR.
It is worth noting that the New York Times previously reported that North Korean soldiers had not been seen at the confrontation line for about two weeks, but they could return to the front in the Kursk region of Russia. Later, South Korean intelligence confirmed the withdrawal of North Korean troops in the Kursk region.
In October 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had received information about Russia preparing two units of North Korean soldiers, each consisting of 6,000 personnel. As of January, Zelensky reported that 4,000 military personnel from North Korea had been neutralized in the Kursk region.
Ukrainian military personnel report that North Korean soldiers are unwilling to surrender; instead, they either take their comrades or commit suicide when faced with the threat of capture. They also do not take prisoners—Ukrainian soldiers who wished to surrender were killed.
In Russia, there are efforts to conceal the involvement of North Koreans in combat operations. According to the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine, they were recorded as Tuvinians in the documents. Zelensky also stated that there were cases of faces being burned to prevent identification of the bodies.