At least 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed in combat in the Ukraine war since joining the fight on the side of Russia earlier this month, a South Korean MP said. .

Lee Sung-kwon, speaking to reporters after parliament received a call from the country's National Intelligence Service, said another 1,000 were injured.

He said that the casualties included high-ranking officers, and that they could be explained by the soldiers' lack of experience on the ground, and with drone warfare.

The first reports of casualties came from North Korea earlier this week. It emerged in October that the North had sent 10,000 troops to help the Russian war effort.

On Monday a US Pentagon spokesman said North Koreans had been killed, without giving a number, and a day later an unnamed US official said "several hundred" had been killed or wounded.

The BBC has not independently verified the claims.

It is believed that the North Korean soldiers, who have no previous combat experience, spent their first weeks in Russia training and then in support roles.

The casualties are believed to have occurred in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainians are defending a small area of ​​land seized during A surprise attack in August.

Last Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had begun using a "significant number" of North Koreans in its attacks in Kursk.

They are not believed to have been used in Ukraine itself, where Russian troops have been advancing in the eastern parts of the country in recent months.

Lee Sung-kwon said there were reports of preparations for additional deployments, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could oversee training.

He said intelligence officials said the high number of casualties could be due to the "unfamiliar battle environment, where North Korean forces are being used as expendable frontal assault units, and their lack of ability to combat drone attacks".

"Within the Russian military, there have been complaints that North Korean soldiers, due to their lack of experience with drones, are more of a liability than an asset," he said.

Neither Russia nor the North have acknowledged the deployment of troops, but a North Korean statement on Thursday by state news agency KCNA said the country's alliance with Moscow was "stopping the expansion of negative influence." the US and the West”.