epa11691983 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)s National flag waves on the embassy building in Moscow, Russia, 30 October 2024. North Korean state news agency KCNA and Russian officials on 30 October confirmed that North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hu was traveling to Moscow after arriving in Vladivostok the previous day. Choe's visit comes after NATO joined Seoul, Washington and Kyiv in confirming Pyongyang's deployment of troops to Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine. EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV "We do assess that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk... we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.
Ryder said he did not have details on numbers of North Korean casualties but added that the North Korean troops entered combat last week.
Ukraine said on Monday that North Korean units fighting for Russia sustained losses of at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded around several villages on the front in Russia's Kursk region over the weekend.
The Ukrainian military spy agency's statement came after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Russia was using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults in Kursk, a Russian region where Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion in August.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Ros Russell)