North Korean soldiers injured while deployed to Russia have been spotted receiving treatment at a military hospital in Moscow.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the pro-Russian Telegram channel Parapax released a video last Thursday showing men in hospital gowns, believed to be injured North Korean soldiers, in a Moscow military hospital.
The video shows the injured soldiers watching TV or using smartphones to access the Internet. Snacks are scattered on the beds.
A man, presumed to be an injured Russian soldier filming the video, tried speaking to a North Korean soldier in Russian, but the soldier only smiled silently.
The Russian soldier commented, “These people watch TV and eat a lot.”
Parapax explained that the footage shows North Korean soldiers wounded during battles with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia, lying in hospital beds.
RFA noted that the authenticity of the video could not be verified.
Meanwhile, on December 18, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) intercepted a phone call between a Russian nurse and her husband, who is deployed as a soldier. The nurse claimed that over 200 injured North Korean soldiers had been transported to a hospital near Moscow over several days.
According to the SBU, the nurse said, “Yesterday, 100 North Korean soldiers were transported by train, and today, another 120 arrived. There are now over 200.”
On December 17, Ukrainian media outlet Invocation Info also shared a video on its Telegram account showing Asian men reportedly receiving treatment at a hospital near Ulitsa Pigorova in Kursk, Russia, stating that 100 injured North Korean soldiers were being treated there.
The United States, South Korea, and Ukraine have already reported between 1,000 and over 3,000 North Korean casualties.
On December 18, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed hundreds of North Korean casualties in the Kursk region. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) also stated on December 19 that at least 100 North Korean soldiers had died, with over 1,000 injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on December 23 that the number of North Korean casualties had already exceeded 3,000.