North Korean casualties for the battle are almost impossible to estimate precisely due to a lack of records. It is difficult to determine how many South Korean citizens were forcibly conscripted during the battle and how many deserted as opposed to being killed. Larger engagements destroyed entire regiments and even divisions of KPA troops, and their strength had to be estimated based on accounts of KPA captured by the UN. On September 1, the KPA numbered approximately 97,850 in South Korea, and up to one third of this number is suspected to have been conscripts from South Korea. In the aftermath of the Pusan Perimeter battle, only 25,000 or 30,000 of these soldiers returned to North Korea by the end of the month. Upwards of one third of the attacking force became casualties in the fighting. This would mean KPA casualties from September 1 to 15 could range from roughly 41,000 to 36,000 killed and captured, with an unknown number of wounded. With the addition of the 5,690 killed in the Bowling Alley, 3,500 at the Naktong Bulge, at least 3,700 at Taegu and an unknown number at P'ohang-dong before September 1, KPA casualties likely topped 50,000 to 60,000 by the end of the battle. They also lost 239 T-34 tanks and 74 SU-76 self-propelled guns; virtually all of the armor they possessed.
