Over 6,000 N. Korean troops killed or injured in Ukraine war: British defense ministry

A captured North Korean soldier is seen in this photo posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's X account, Jan. 12. Yonhap

North Korea is estimated to have sustained more than 6,000 casualties in fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, more than half of the troops Pyongyang initially deployed, according to Britain's defense ministry.

The ministry shared the assessment in an X post Sunday, two months after its earlier estimate of over 5,000 North Korean troop casualties in Russia's western front-line region of Kursk in early April.

"The total casualties amount to more than half of the approximately 11,000 DPRK troops initially deployed to the Kursk region," it said. "Significant DPRK casualty rates have almost certainly been sustained primarily through large, highly attritional dismounted assaults."

DPRK stands for North Korea's official name — the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The ministry said North Korea's operations in the war have so far been confined to the Kursk region, adding that any decision to deploy into Ukrainian territory would likely need approval from Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

After deploying some 11,000 troops to Russia last year, North Korea is estimated to have sent an additional 3,000 soldiers to the Kursk region this year, according to South Korea's military.

The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in late April that North Korea had incurred some 4,700 casualties, including about 600 deaths.