Seoul said that over 3,000 North Korean troops had been killed or injured since joining hostilities. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president has offered North Korean POWs to be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners.

South Korea’s spy agency said that North Korean troop fatalities and injuries in Russia’s war against Ukraine had likely passed the 3,000 mark.

“The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates suggesting that casualties among North Korean forces have surpassed 3,000,” South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters following a briefing from the intelligence agency.

The number includes “approximately 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries,” Lee said.

In October last year, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said that Pyongyang was sending as many as 12,000 troops to Russia as it continued its invasion of Ukraine.

A defense pact signed between Pyongyang and Moscow in June took effect in December.

The agreement obligates both states to provide military assistance in the case of an attack on the other, and to jointly oppose Western sanctions.