North Korean troops aiding Russia in Ukraine face heavy casualties, revealing discipline issues and limited effectiveness; despite this, Moscow hails their role and expands military cooperation with Pyongyang.
According to Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergey Shoigu, the North Korean “volunteers” now fighting for Russia in the Kursk Oblast are giving their all and then some. Speaking at the XIII International Meeting of high-ranking security representatives on Thursday, Shoigu also thanked the soldiers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for their role in driving back Ukrainian forces.
“They fought for the liberation of our land, as for the liberation of their land,” Shoigu told reporters following his remarks, state news agency Tass reported.
This is just the latest praise from Russian officials on the North Koreans. Last month, Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov highlighted the troops’ role in the “liberation” of Kursk. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also commended the North Korean soldiers for their “professionalism, courage, and heroism.”
The Relationship Between Russia and North Korea Grows Stronger
Secretary Shoigu also noted the strengthening ties between Russia and North Korea, which have provided Russia’s forces with materiel support, including ordnance, small arms, and other weapons. Moscow has also aided Pyongyang with technology and expertise to support its missile and potentially nuclear weapons programs.
“Our relations with the DPRK are developing fairly vigorously today,” said Shoigu, adding that cooperation between the two countries has increased significantly. He also noted the recently signed treaty between the two states.
“It is a broad-based agreement, which exists not only on paper, but also on the battlefield, where our Korean brothers are fighting in the trenches shoulder to shoulder, back to back,” Shoigu continued.
“Relations with the DPRK could have been built or established as they are today, much earlier. In recent years, we have been making significant joint steps after long, long years of trying to act, follow the rules that plunged the DPRK into isolation.”
Shoigu said, “That was wrong.”
The Kremlin has also sought to rectify the issue, and this week, Newsweek reported that Russia has provided at least one Pantsir mobile air defense system to North Korea. It was designed to target fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, cruise missiles, and even drones.
“The deployment of the Pantsir provides the DPRK with a more modernized air defense system compared to its current inventory of legacy Russian systems and its domestically-produced systems that have yet to be deployed,” warned a Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) report.
There Are Many North Koreans Fighting for Russia
Last year, as part of the burgeoning partnership between North Korea and Russia, Pyongyang sent 11,000 troops to aid Russia. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it an “honor” to have such an alliance with Moscow. He further described the troops as “heroes” engaged in a “sacred mission,” promising that a monument would be erected in the capital to commemorate their sacrifices.
The number of North Korean troops has increased to more than 15,000 by last month. The casualties have been significant. According to a BBC report from January, as many as 1,000 were believed to have been killed by that point, while thousands more were wounded.
The high losses aren’t surprising given that the North Koreans employed human wave attacks. This tactic was commonly employed in the Korean War, more than 70 years ago, where using superior numbers was the Communist forces’ most significant advantage.
However, it hasn’t been Ukrainian defensive positions or drones that have been the greatest threat to the North Korean soldiers. Instead, it has been their largely unrestricted access to the Internet. Soon after the troops arrived near the front lines, there were reports that the soldiers were gorging on pornography, something not accessible in the Hermit Kingdom. That resulted in a sharp increase in discipline.
The most important takeaway is that the Kreamlin required North Korea’s help to dislodge the Ukrainians from the Kursk Oblast, where Kyiv’s forces launched the most significant incursion into Russian territory since the Second World War. This suggests Moscow is facing more than a manpower issue, and Pyongyang can only do so much to help solve it.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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