One in 10 North Korean soldiers sent to the Ukraine war were killed or wounded in their first weeks of fighting, South Korea has claimed.

The statistic was shared on Monday by Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) group, which said there were signs Pyongyang was preparing to send more troops to Russia.

Last week, Seoul’s spy agency said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since starting combat in December.

Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.

“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.

The JCS added that Pyongyang was “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort.