"North Korean troops sent to Russia use it as a 'human landmine detector'"

A Ukrainian military official has claimed that North Korean soldiers sent to Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, are actually being used as "human mine detectors."

The Times recently quoted the testimony of "Leopard," a Ukrainian lieutenant colonel who fought with North Korean troops in Kursk, Russia.

Leopard said the North Korean military uses people where Ukraine deploys landmine-removing vehicles, and if one person is bombed while walking in a row three to four meters apart, medical staff will recover the body.

Leopard testified that the North Korean military was mixed with Russian troops in one unit to hide their identities, using only small weapons such as machine guns and grenade launchers and mortars, and not drones.

He added that the North Korean military refused to be captured and tried to fight or flee to the death, and its commanders seemed unfazed by the loss of life.

Leopard said he saw four North Korean soldiers killed in 15 minutes when his drone dropped grenades on North Korean troops, and that 120 people were killed in two days.