The North Korean army is one of the world’s largest.​ As it joins Russia’s war against Ukraine, its soldiers are paying a price for Kim Jong-un’s geopolitical maneuvers.

Secretive North Korea has one of the world’s largest militaries, with 1.28 million active soldiers, but unlike in Russia, the Korean People's Army (KPA) has no recent experience of combat. Pyongyang’s army is “thoroughly indoctrinated but with low readiness,” says Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

South Korea's spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia's war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were given fake military documents with Russian names and birthplaces, the Ukrainian military said, amid claims from Kyiv that Russia is trying to conceal the presence of foreign fighters on the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Monday more than 3,000 troops from North Korea have been killed so far fighting next to Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said there have been more than 3,000 North Korean casualties in Russia's Kursk region.

The Ukrainian military revealed a notebook reportedly owned by a North Korean soldier killed in Kursk, sharing the soldier's drone-hunting tactics on its Facebook account on Thursday.

The Russians engaged soldiers from North Korea in the Kursk region, where they first encountered drones. The method of combating drones by North Korean soldiers was found by Ukrainian special forces in a captured notebook.