North Korean soldiers opened fire on Russian special forces, after mistaking them for Ukrainians.
The incident happened in Russia‘s Kursk region, where fierce battles continue to rage for control of the territory, seized by Ukraine in August.
The Kremlin has amassed an army of around 50,000 troops in the border region, which includes around 12,000 North Koreans.
Kim Jong un’s soldiers were sent to Russia, following the signing of a defence pact between Pyongyang and Moscow in June.
However, chronic language barriers between Vladimir Putin’s soldiers and Kim’s men have led to a number of serious misunderstandings and miscommunications, some of which have been deadly.
The latest mishap happened over the weekend and resulted in fatalities, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
A contingent of North Koreans mistook a convoy of Chechen Akhmat special forces for the enemy and opened fire on them in the Kursk region.
Kim’s soldiers reportedly damaged and destroyed several vehicles and killed eight of the Spetsnaz soldiers.
Analysts at the US think-tank said that the poor integration and ongoing communication issues will likely continue to cause friction between Russian and North Korean forces.
The North Koreans are suffering significant casualties, as they are deployed in assaults without armoured vehicle support.
The White House said on Friday that Kim’s soldiers had suffered around 1,000 casualties in the seven days between December 20 and 27.
Meanwhile, Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed over 3,000 North Koreans have been wounded or killed.
The North Koreans are part of assault units deployed to try and overrun Ukrainian positions through sheer force of numbers.
However, Kyiv’s units have devised a strategy to inflict as many casualties on their enemy as possible.
Ukrainian troops pull back from disadvantageous positions, allowing North Koreans to take them instead, before annihilating the positions with artillery and cluster munitions.
Then, they launch cleanup raids with special forces to clear out the remaining survivors.
Putin’s army is reported to regained over 40 percent of the territory it lost after a lightening Ukrainian incursion in the summer.