DPRK forces had lost 4,000 people in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. Of these, about a quarter were killed in action, according to the UK Ministry of Defense.

The DPRK troops sent to support Russian forces in the Kursk region suffered significant losses in the battles - about 4,000 people - without achieving great results. — Ukrinform.

A thousand North Korean troops who have been fighting in the Kursk region of Russia have been killed in Vladimir Putin ’s war with Ukraine, officials have said. Western officials have told the BBC that 36 per cent of North Korean forces fighting in Russia had been killed, injured or captured by mid-January.

UK Defence Intelligence has analysed that as of January 2025, North Korea has already lost about 4,000 military personnel in the Russian-Ukrainian war who took part in the fighting in Russiaʼs Kursk Oblast.

The losses represent over a third of the approximately 11,000 North Korean troops deployed in Kursk Oblast. The high casualty rate has severely degraded the ability of North Korean forces to conduct offensive operations in support of Russia's attempts to push Ukrainian forces out of Kursk Oblast.