There is mounting evidence from the battlefield, intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors that some North Korean soldiers are resorting to extreme measures as they support Russia's three-year war with Ukraine.

Follow DW.South Korea's intelligence agency estimated around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and another 2,700 have been wounded in Russia's war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he's ready to hand over captured North Korean soldiers in return for Ukrainian soldiers held prisoner in Russia.

Separately, Ukraine revealed more details about the first two North Korean soldiers it has captured alive and said it was willing to exchange them for Ukrainians held in Russia.

It comes after Ukraine released footage of two captured men, reportedly North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia.

South Korea's spy agency said over 3,000 North Korean soldiers sent to help Russia fight its war against Ukraine are likely to have been killed or injured. Two have been captured alive. Ukrainian Pres

North Korean troop fatalities and injuries in Ukraine have likely exceeded 3,000, including about 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries, a South Korean lawmaker briefed by the country's spy agency said on Monday.

Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement it has “confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia”.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been impeached, will appear at a Seoul court hearing later today. He will argue against his arrest over the martial law he declared in December, reports the Associated Press.

Lawyers for South Korea’s impeached president say he will appear at a hearing in a Seoul court to oppose a formal arrest over last month’s imposition of martial law.

If North Korea's current rate of losses remains unchanged, it'll take another three months for Pyongyang to lose all of the estimated 12,000 troops deployed in the Kursk area, according to an estimate by researchers at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Law enforcement authorities have requested a warrant to formally arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is spending his third day at a detention center after his lawyers failed in a last-minute attempt to secure his release.