Overview
- South Korea’s National Intelligence Service assesses roughly 10,000 North Korean combat troops and 1,000 engineers are deployed in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
- About 1,100 personnel who returned to North Korea in December 2025 may be sent back to Russia, according to the intelligence assessment.
- The agency reports North Korea has absorbed modern battlefield tactics and upgraded weapons systems with technical assistance from Russia.
- Pyongyang has created a new unmanned aerial vehicle department and is moving to establish drone development and mass production.
- Reporting notes North Korea has supplied Russia with artillery shells and ballistic missiles, while Ukraine’s military intelligence has cited North Korean units conducting attacks in border areas.