North Korean Soldiers in the War on Ukraine: From World War II to the U.S., and back again: The “Task” of the Russian Army

“From Pyongyang’s perspective, if it can obtain advanced technology and weapons systems, it may be willing to deploy troops to Ukraine, even at significant cost,” he says. “However, if the compensation consists merely of energy and food supplies, North Korea would need to weigh the decision more carefully.”

The front line of the war on Ukraine has served as a vicious, real-time classroom.

In interviews with the Wall Street Journal, published in February, the North Koreans said they didn’t know they were being sent to Russia until they arrived. They told the paper that they went through military drills, including drone training.

“They went from using World War II tactics to using drones on the battlefield”, Capt. Oleh Shyriaiev told NPR. “And they learned very quickly.”

Andriy Chernyak, a spokesman for Ukraine’s defense intelligence, told NPR that North Korea has the reserves to send up to 150,000 additional troops to fight with the Russians against Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told The War Zone publication on June 10 that Russia has agreed to supply technology and know-how to the North Koreans on how to build long-range Shahed-style drones and improve the accuracy of short-range ballistic missiles.

In early January, Ukraine’s special forces captured two North Korean soldiers in Kursk. The soldiers, 21-year-old Paek and 26-year-old Ri, remain in Ukrainian captivity. Zelenskyy posted videos of Ukrainian authorities questioning the two. Russian media reported that one of the soldiers had an ID with a Russian citizen’s name on it.

These soldiers were exposed and easily spotted by the drones when moving in the open fields. The North Koreans risked their lives to retrieve the bodies of colleagues that were buried in those fields.

Russian units would scatter immediately, but “the North Koreans simply continued carrying out their task without paying heed,” Andriy said. They would go straight through the field. They wouldn’t even hide if there was artillery fire somewhere close by. They would not hide from our drones.

He said a Ukrainian bomber drone was nicknamed “Baba Yaga” after a witch. He said Russian soldiers are terrified of this drone because it is larger and louder than other drones.

Because the North Koreans moved in big groups at first, Andriy said they were easy targets for artillery, “and if some of them survived, it was easier for FPV drones to find them.”

Volodymyr, 35, who leads a reconnaissance unit in the 61st brigade, noticed that at night, the soldiers wrapped themselves in Mylar ponchos, also known as space blankets, to avoid being detected by the Ukrainian thermal imaging.

“He was young and in good physical shape, so we were unable to catch him,” Volodymyr said. The soldiers tried to chase him after he got on a fence, but by the time they got to the top, he was gone.

The soldiers spotted him running with his backpack and equipment even though he was injured. The soldier blew himself up when he noticed the Ukrainian troops were closing in, Volodymyr said.

For weeks over the winter early this year, Ukraine’s military tried to capture a North Korean soldier in order to prove to Western allies that Pyongyang had joined the fight against Ukraine.

Cha says they choose this option because of their concern for their families back home. The captured soldiers are thought to be traitors by the communist regime.

Source: North Koreans fighting for Russia against Ukraine have grown skilled in drone warfare

Russian soldiers who died in battle fought for Russia as a comrade country under invasion. Activists of the Kremlin and North Korea

“Our medic immediately provided him with help and bandaged his leg and arm,” Bulat said. “The soldier also has a shrapnel wound to his cheek. Our medic bandaged that too.”

The belongings of the North Korean soldiers who were killed in battle were collected by Ukrainian soldiers. Russian military ID cards, where names were written in Russian but signed by troops in Korean, as well as outdated cell phones, first-aid instructions issued by Russia and more, were included.

There were also notebooks, which NPR has viewed and confirmed as authentic, that served as diaries. A handwritten speech from North Korean leader Kim Jung Un and a soldier’s confession of stealing Russian goods were included. Instructions on how to stay out of fire and how to destroy drones can be found in the diaries. “One person among three lure it out,” one soldier wrote. “The drone stops when the person stops, so the other two destroy it with an aimed shot.”

“We instructed our soldiers to avoid direct battles with North Korean troops,” he said. If they started an assault, we planted mines so they wouldn’t fall into our traps.

Moscow and North Korea had not confirmed that there were any North Koreans in Kursk. Zelenskyy warned about Russia receiving weapons and soldiers from North Korea.

In his evening video address, he stated that the world does almost nothing to counter the criminal collaboration between Russia and North Korea.

In late April, the Russian army’s chief of staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, declared that Russia had pushed Ukrainian soldiers out of nearly all of Kursk, hailing the “fortitude and heroism” of North Korean soldiers. The official statement from the North Korean regime praised the troops’ “heroic feats”. Putin followed suit. Several North Korean soldiers were even on Red Square for Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, shaking hands with the Kremlin leader.

“We will always honor the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, on par with their Russians brother in arms,” Putin said in a statement on the Kremlin’s website.

“It can now claim that it is not unjustly intervening in the aggressive war by Russia but rather assisting Russia, a comrade country under invasion,” he says.

He said North Korea could cite a bilateral treaty the two countries signed during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024, which includes a pact for immediate military assistance if either country faces armed aggression.

Cha believes that it will be hard for the communists to agree to send troops to Russia-occupied territory in Ukraine unless there’s an exchange of nuclear weapons.

In Ukraine, Budanov, the military intelligence chief, warned in an interview with The War Zone that these North Korean laborers could be enticed into signing contracts with the Russian military.

Tetiana Burianova and Polina Lytvynova contributed reporting from Sumy. NPR’s Se Eun Gong and Anthony Kuhn contributed reporting from Seoul and Charles Maynes from Moscow.

The Russian Nightmare of December 13: The Kremlin Assault on Crimea and the First Ukrainian Peace Agreement in the Context of Reconciliation

“Such attacks are pure terrorism,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media about Russia’s overnight assault. “And the whole world, the USA and Europe must finally react the way a civilized society reacts to terrorists.”

The Trump administration’s efforts to start peace negotiations have failed so far. Russia refused to agree to a ceasefire that would lead to peace talks and instead launched attacks on Ukrainian cities.

At least fifteen people were killed and at least 100 others were injured during one of the largest Russian attacks this year in the Ukrainian capital. Rescue workers are digging through the rubble for survivors.

Videos and photos posted by Ukrainian authorities showed part of a high-rise apartment complex collapsed into rubble. Emergency workers attempt to pull people out of the ruins.

Ihor Klymenko, the minister of the interior, said on Telegram that a direct hit by a missile on an apartment building was among at least a dozen sites struck.

The attack lasted for more than nine hours. Amid the constant crackle of Kyiv’s air defenses, NPR’s bureau heard the moped-like buzzing sound of drones for hours, and, briefly, a missile’s whistling screech.

Other parts of Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Odesa in the south, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, Zhytomyr in the west and Chernihiv in the north.