Seoul, Dec 23
North Korea appears to be preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, possibly including suicide drones, in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine, South Korea's military said on Monday.
According to the South's spy agency, the assessment came as North Korea is believed to have sent thousands of troops to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, with the number of casualties estimated to be around 1,100, news agency reported.
"A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops (in Russia), while currently supplying 240-millimetre rocket launchers and 170 mm self-propelled artillery," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
"There are also some signs of (the North) moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first unveiled during Kim Jong-un's on-site inspection in November," the JCS said, attributing the move to the North's efforts to gain practical warfare experience and modernise its conventional weapons system.
Last month, the North's state media reported that Kim observed an on-site test of various types of suicide attack drones and called for the full-scale production of the weapons that are increasingly becoming important in modern warfare due to their cost-effectiveness.