North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk front line appear not to have been engaged in combat since mid-January, South Korea’s spy agency told AFP Tuesday, after Ukraine claimed they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.

January, there have been no signs showing North Korean troops deployed to the Russian Kursk region engaging in battle," South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, suggesting that heavy losses may have been one of the reasons for their withdrawal.

SEOUL: North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia's army on the Kursk front line appear not to have been engaged in combat since mid-January, South Korea's spy agency told AFP on Tuesday (Feb 4),

The soldiers appear to have been pulled back from the front lines in Kursk after suffering heavy casualties during barely a month of combat, Ukrainian officials said.

North Korean troops deployed to support Russian forces in Ukraine's Kursk region have been withdrawn after suffering heavy casualties, say Ukrainian officials. Over 10,000 soldiers were sent by Pyongyang,

Although the North Korean troops were highlighted as a decisive escalation in the conflict, their performance appears to have fallen well short of expectations.