(LEAD) N. Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to Russia: S. Korean spy agency

(ATTN: UPDATES with more info in last 5 paras)

SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine, although the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday.

"Following about a monthlong lull, North Korean troops were placed back in the frontline region of Kursk starting in the first week of February," the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a note to the press.

"It appears that there has been a deployment of additional troops, but their size is still being examined," the NIS said.

The assessment follows a news report that between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were newly transported to Kursk via Russian cargo ships and military airplanes between January and February in the second round of such troop deployment.

Following the report, South Korean military officials said signs of North Korea dispatching more than 1,000 additional troops to Russia this year have been detected.

North Korea is believed to have deployed approximately 11,000 troops to Russia's western frontline region of Kursk last year.

The NIS has earlier assessed that North Korean troops deployed to Russia had been absent from combat in the Kursk region since mid-January, likely due to heavy casualties among them.

The agency estimated that about 300 were killed and some 2,700 others were wounded.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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