What readers ask first
What did the BBC find?
The BBC estimated that two memorial walls contain about 2,304 names, based on the number of visible sections, columns and names in official photographs.
Does that prove the exact death toll?
No. North Korea has not published an official total, and the available images are not sharp enough to verify every name individually.
The short version: A new memorial in Pyongyang may provide the clearest public clue yet to how many North Korean soldiers died while fighting for Russia in the Kursk region.
The BBC examined official North Korean photographs of two memorial walls. It counted nine name-filled sections on each wall, about 16 columns per section and eight names per column. That produces an estimate of roughly 1,152 names per wall—or about 2,304 in total.
The memorial also includes a cemetery and what analysts believe is a columbarium holding urns. South Korean intelligence said in September 2025 that about 2,000 North Korean troops had been killed; by February 2026 it estimated about 6,000 had been killed or wounded, without separating the two categories.
What the evidence does—and does not—show
The wall count is an estimate, not an official casualty report. The available photographs do not allow every inscription to be read, and it is not known whether every North Korean death is represented. Still, the memorial gives outside analysts a physical, observable basis for estimating losses that Pyongyang and Moscow have not publicly disclosed.
Read DMZ War’s broader analysis of what North Korea is learning from the war in Ukraine.
Read the record
- Thousands of North Koreans fought for Russia. A memorial hints at the death tollBBC News — Published May 7, 2026