A thousand, a hundred North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in the war with Russia Ukraineand Pyongyang may be preparing to deploy more North Korean soldiers to the regionSouth Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday. The information follows a report last week by Seoul’s spy agency that said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering the fighting in December.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including in the Kursk border region where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.

“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we estimate that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in fighting with Ukrainian forces have suffered approximately 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.

“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployment” of North Korean troops to help the Russian war effort, the JCS said, adding that Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for a rotation or additional deployment of troops.”

The JCS said intelligence also suggested that nuclear-armed North Korea had “manufactured and supplied self-destructing drones” to Russia to further aid Moscow in its fight against Ukraine, and that North Korea had supplied “240 mm rocket launchers and self-propelled artillery of 170 mm “for the Russian army.

Seoul’s military said North Korea intends to modernize its conventional warfare capabilities based on combat experience in the Russo-Ukraine war.

“This could lead to an increase in the North’s military threat to us,” it said.

The latest revelations are in line with a report by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, which informed lawmakers that “Russia could offer reciprocal benefits” for North Korea’s military contributions, including “modernizing North Korea’s conventional weapons.”

North Korean and Russian military ties

North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A landmark defense pact between Pyongyang and Moscow, signed in June, came into force this month, and experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to acquire advanced technology from Russia and combat experience for his troops.

Pyongyang on Thursday sharply criticized what it called a “reckless provocation” by the United States and its allies over a joint statement criticizing North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including troop deployments.

South Korea and Ukraine announced last month that they would deepen security cooperation in response to the “threat” posed by North Korean troop deployments, but there was no mention of potential arms shipments from Seoul to Kiev.

Suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in November that Seoul “does not rule out the possibility of supplying weapons” to Ukraine, which would mark a significant shift in its long-standing policy of banning arms sales to countries in active conflict.

North Korea is building a new border fence

North Korea’s military was also seen building a new fence that stretches 25 miles along the border with the South, testing electric barbed wire fences with what appeared to be goats.

A photo shared by the JCS shows a North Korean soldier holding what appears to be a goat in front of a barbed wire fence.

Strengthening the border security of the North lasted “eight months with as many as 10,000 mobilized soldiers,” a military official told reporters.

The heightened security measures are aimed at “preventing North Korean civilians and soldiers from defecting to the South,” the JCS said in its report.

North also started around 7000 balloons for carrying garbage south on 32 occasions since May, Seoul’s military said.

Activist groups in South Korea have long sent propaganda to the North, usually carried by balloons, including leaflets, US dollar bills and sometimes USB drives containing K-pop or K-dramas, which are banned in the tightly controlled North.

Pyongyang condemns such activities and says its garbage balloon offensive is retaliation for the activists’ propaganda efforts.

While Pyongyang has refrained from launching such balloons since Nov. 29, “indications of their readiness for surprise launch at multiple locations” have been observed, Seoul’s military said.