N Korean troops killing themselves rather than surrendering to Ukraine , claims US

North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region, fighting Ukraine have been facing severe losses since the day they began to help Russian forces in its war with Ukraine. US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stressed that the troops sent by North Korea, are killing themselves rather than risking capture. 

Emphasising that the North Korean generals see their soldiers as “expendable”, Kirby said that more than 1000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the last week. 

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that almost 3,000 Pyongyang soldiers have been killed or injured so far. 

Also read: North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine dies from injuries, claims South Korea’s spy agency

A “human wave” of North Korean soldiers fighting on Russia’s side in the Ukraine war are being sent to their deaths in “hopeless” attacks by generals who saw them as “expendable”, he said. 

“We now assess that North Korean forces are conducting massed dismounted assaults against Ukrainian positions in Kursk, and these human wave tactics that we’re seeing haven’t really been all that effective,” the spokesperson added. 

“We also have reports of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces,” he said, adding that the soldiers are taking such actions likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in case they are captured. 

Also read: Russia sentences singer to 5.5 years in jail for criticising Ukraine offensive 

Kirby continues that these North Korean soldiers appear to be “highly indoctrinated”, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are “futile”. 

‘Several North Korean soldiers dead’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said that several North Korean soldiers who were “seriously wounded” died from their injuries after being captured by Ukrainian forces. 

“Our soldiers managed to take them prisoner. But they were very seriously wounded and could not be resuscitated,” he said. 

Zelensky has also accused Russia of sending North Korean troops to the battlefield with “minimal protection”. 

Also read: Ukraine’s Zelensky says over 3,000 North Koreans killed or wounded in Kursk region

“They have a lot of losses. A lot. And we see that the Russian military and North Korean supervisors are not interested in the survival of these Koreans at all,” he said.

On Friday, South Korea’s spy agency claimed that one wounded North Korean soldier, captured by Ukraine, died from his injuries.

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(With inputs from agencies)