What we know about North Korean troops in Ukraine

It was n’t immediately clear what role North Korean troops would play when they first rumored to be supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine in October.

Their lack of experience on the front lines was highlighted as a significant reason for their potential non-combat functions.

But after the US and Ukraine revealed North Korean troops have already engaged in combat with Ukrainian soldiers, their role in the fight is being re-evaluated.

Perhaps the number being deployed- actually put at around 11, 000 by the Pentagon- has been debated. According to Bloomberg, unknown sources believe Pyongyang does actually build as many as 100, 000 forces.

But, accurate information is difficult to obtain because neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have responded to any of these accounts immediately.

What do we hear about North Korean forces stationed in Russia, then?

In brief, it is hard to say.

The mysterious kingdom may have one of the world’s largest army, with 1.28 million effective men, but- unlike Russia’s martial- the Korean People’s Army (KPA ) has no new experience of combat activities.

Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies ( CSIS), believes Pyongyang’s army is” thoroughly indoctrinated but with low readiness”.

But, he says, they should not be presumed to be shot fodder- adding like a description is “Ukrainian bravado”.

Russian and South Asian intelligence services have said that many of the troops deployed to Russia are some of Pyongyang’s best, drawn from the 11th Corps, also known as the Storm Corps- a system trained in penetration, system sabotage and assassinations.

According to Michael Madden, a Stimson Center expert on North Korea, these men are” trained to endure a high level of physical pain and psychological torture.”

He continues,” They make up for what they lack in conflict with what they can bear physically and mentally.”

According to Mr. Cancian,” special operations forces will be much better equipped than the typical North Vietnamese unit” if they are to be called in.

” More, the Russians appear to be giving them more education, possibly on the specific circumstances of the conflict in Ukraine”, he adds.

This is backed up by videos that appear to be of men wearing Russian clothes at what appear to be military coaching services in Russia.

And as the war in Ukraine creeps towards its fourth year, these North Korean forces may be among” the best ready” among the army available to Russia, says Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean military lieutenant-general.

More than 1, 000 Russian troops are killed or wounded on common every day, according to Nato and military officers in the West, and Moscow has been recruiting at least 20, 000 new men each month to support its conflict energy.

” ]Russia ] has been sending troops to the front without proper training. Compared to such recruits, North Koreans are trained and motivated. They are not combat-tested currently, but that soon will not be the case”, Lt-Gen ( retd ) Chun said.

Some experts think that Pyongyang’s troops would be tapped for their engineering and construction skills because of the obvious language barrier and lack of familiarity with Russian systems, complicating any combat roles.

Given these disadvantages, what is in this deal for the two countries?

Observers say Moscow needs manpower, while Pyongyang needs money and technology.

” For North Korea, ]such deployments are ] a good way to earn money”, says Andrei Lankov, director of the Korea Risk Group.

South Korean intelligence puts this at$ 2, 000 ( £1, 585 ) per soldier per month, with most of this money expected to end up in the state’s coffers.

According to Mr. Lankov, Pyongyang might also be able to access Russian military technology, which Moscow might not have been able to transfer.

The US estimates that around 600, 000 Russian troops have died or been wounded since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 based on widely reported reports about Moscow’s manpower issues. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, gave a third-time order to expand his army in September, the third time since the start of the conflict.

According to Mr. Cancian from CSIS, it has also pursued personnel tactics that “minimise domestic political impact” such as rewarding volunteers and enlisting foreigners with the promise of citizenship.

Reduced losses on the battlefield, according to Lami Kim, a professor of security studies at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, might lessen the pressure on the Putin regime.

Seoul is concerned by these developments, which come at a time when the Korean peninsula’s tensions are at their highest level in years.

Days after Seoul was accused of flying drones into Pyongyang, the North destroyed portions of two roads that connected it to South Korea in October.

That came after the two countries engaged in a tit-for-tat balloon campaign, flying thousands of trash and propaganda balloons towards each other’s territories. The Koreas have also suspended a pact aimed at lowering military tensions between them, shortly after North Korea said that the South was now “enemy number one”.

In light of these tensions, it makes sense that South Korea would be alarmed if the North were to start acquiring new military prowess. After all, South Korean troops have n’t engaged in another significant conflict since the Korean War.

According to Mr. Madden and Mr. Cancian, it is believed that North Korean troops are stationed in the stale Kursk border region, which Moscow has been attempting to retake from Ukraine.

The South fears that “its adversary could boast more hostile capabilities” as a result of the experience its soldiers would get on the battlefield, says Lt-Gen ( retd ) Chun.

South Korea claims that the North has long been accused of providing weapons to Russia, but it claims that the current situation extends beyond the transfer of military equipment.

It has also expressed “grave concern” over a pact between Pyongyang and Moscow, which pledges that the two counties will help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.

Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, has repeatedly stated at least three times in the past two months that the country would consider assisting Ukraine” for defensive purposes.” If this occurs, it would change the South’s longstanding policy of not providing weapons to nations in active conflict.