North Korea likely will soon dispatch thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia’s Kursk region, South Korea’s intelligence agency said in July 2025.
After meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in mid-June, Russian security official Sergei Shoigu said Kim decided to send 1,000 sappers and 5,000 military construction workers to help rebuild the war-torn area. North Korea has already provided combat troops and ammunition to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
In late June, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told a parliamentary committee that the 6,000 military personnel could be deployed within weeks, according to lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, who attended the closed-door meeting.
Lee cited the NIS as saying that North Korea has begun recruiting soldiers to send to Russia. He said the agency noted that North Korea’s dispatch of combat troops in 2024 came about one month after Shoigu visited North Korea and signed an agreement with Pyongyang officials.
In April 2025, Pyongyang and Moscow announced that their troops fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk border region. The regimes haven’t disclosed how many North Korean soldiers have deployed to Russia, but South Korean, Ukrainian and United States officials said North Korea sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia in 2024. South Korea said North Korea deployed an additional 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers to Russia earlier in 2025.
In return for troops and weapons, Russia is believed to have provided military and economic assistance to North Korea. South Korea, the U.S. and their Allies and Partners are concerned that Russia could transfer sensitive technologies to enhance North Korea’s illegal nuclear program.
The NIS said it believes Russia already has sent North Korea air defense systems, electronic jamming equipment, and technological expertise for space rocket engines, drones and missile guidance, as well as economic assistance.
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