- North Korean troops deployed in Russia have proven to be capable and ferocious.
- Russia uses them in high -cost assaults “human waves”.
- The conflict is an opportunity for North Korea to learn modern war tactics and adapt.
North Korea soldiers are implacable, almost fanatic, faced with death. They are determined and capable in combat, even in an unknown fight, and their tactics are outdated but brutal.
This is what the West learned by looking at Kim Jong’s army one in action after Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the North Korean chief to provide combatants from his war against Ukraine.
Pyongyang deployed 11,000 men to Kursk in November disguised as Russian soldiers and carrying false identity documents. These troops are largely special operations forces, which means that they are more ardent in their beliefs and better formed than other units.
Russia has pushed the North Koreans in mind bloody. The costs are high, but Kim’s army learns an important lesson in return: how to fight modern war.
North Korea has sent some of its best soldiers
The forces of North Korea who fight in Russia have trained with Moscow on different elements of the war, including how to counter drones. Corean Central News Agency / Korea News Service via AP, file
This war is the largest military deployment in North Korea to a foreign conflict in almost 80 years of history. To determine what the West learns from this moment, Business Insider has met with experts who closely followed the performance of North Korea, examined the information released in publication and examined the observations of the Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence services said that many troops that have deployed in Russia Some of the best in PyongyangTaken from the 11th body, also known as Storm Corps. The unit is formed in infiltration, infrastructure sabotage and assassinations.
The best general in Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, said that the North Korean troops are “very motivated, well formed” and “courageous”. And the Pentagon said this month that “it is relatively well disciplined competent forces” which are of all “capable” accounts.
Some Ukrainian soldiers relayed their experiences in the Western media, describing troops as fast and agilegood blows, and apparently intrepid As they rush into battle despite heavy losses. North Korean soldiers were also found transporting newspapers With written dedications to Kim and their country.
“They, as an individual, are more qualified as soldiers, more disciplined as soldiers, more willing to fight as soldiers than certain sources assumed it when they were sent to the first times, “said Joseph Bermudez, an expert from the North Korea Armed Forces at the Center for International and Strategic Studies.
Ukraine said North Korean troops prove to be capable and ferocious enemies. Anadolu / Anadolu via Getty Images
North Korea has a culture driven by a martial philosophy that celebrates hard military powerAnd it maintains one of the largest permanent armies in the world with around 1.2 million soldiers.
The country Direct entry into war A complicated the situation for Ukrainians, especially in the Kursk of Russia, where Ukraine is struggling to hold captured land. Ukraine has lost about half of the territory he owned in Russia, and the attacks of incessant human waves and the brutal assaults carried the already tense defenses of Ukraine, depriving kyiv’s time forces to rest And support for other attacks.
South Korean joint staff chiefs said last month that North Korea planned to deploy additional forces and military equipment in Russia.
Pyongyang denied having sent troops to Russia and Kyiv said The Russian and North Korean forces are trying to withdraw North Korean soldiers who died from the battlefield or even burn the faces of the dead North Koreans to make them difficult to identify.
Russia sends North Korean soldiers to bloody assaults
Western assessments have said that Russia was wasting both its own soldiers and North Korean troops in massive and devastating assaults. Kim won Jin / AFP via Getty Images
Russia has sent the North Korean forces to very high first line assaults. Biden’s White House said at the end of last month that “it is clear that the Russian and North Korean military leaders treat these troops as consumables and ordered hopeless attacks against the Ukrainian defenses”.
A White House spokesman previously described the North Koreans as “highly indoctrinated, pushing the attacks even when it is clear that these attacks are in vain”.
The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comments on its assessment of North Korean forces fighting in Russia.
Ukraine’s special forces said on Friday that North Koreans fighting for Russia had not been seen in the Kursk region for about three weeks and had probably been removed due to the heavy loss of combat. BI could not independently confirm these details.
North Korean forces in Ukraine have chosen to commit suicide rather than being captured alive. Images Kim Jae-Hwan / Sopa / Lightrocket via Getty Images
On the front line, the Ukrainian soldiers said that the North Koreans are a Capable combat force which is able to neutralize drones. The soldiers are ruthlessly difficult and determinedPushing tirelessly in “human wave” assaults, using other soldiers as bait and throwing armor for faster infantry movements. And they refuse to surrender, often opting for committing suicide With a grenade or a ball rather than being captured.
This is a determining element of the training of special North Korean operations: soldiers are trained to follow the orders aggressively, even if they suspect that it will cost them their lives. If they disobey orders or fail without sacrifice, their families could suffer the consequences, said Bermudez.
North Korea is learning modern warfare
Although war has a high cost, North Korea learns from its involvement. Kim Won-Jin / AFP
North Korean forces have undergone heavy losses by fighting for Russiaby Western intelligence. Despite training with Moscow on infantry tactics, flying drones, artillery and trenches’ protection operations, troops are still new in this war.
The soldiers “were observed engaging in light infantry operations of a vintage of the Second World War – a man draws enemy fire (in this case, drones) to locate a target, and others try to neutralize said Target, “said Michael Madden, a Korean expert in Stimson Center. They did not prepare for a mechanized battlefield like that of Ukraine, filled with armored vehicles and tanks.
“They were trained to fight against a war on the Korean peninsula,” said Bermudez, and although North Korea looked at various conflicts up close during the decades, its forces are now have a real taste for that On a battlefield and in an environment, they did not prepare.
In the short term, this could have devastating consequences for the North Korean forces which fight for the Russians. The Institute for the Study of War Think Tank assesses that the entire contingent of 11,000 men from the North Korean forces could be killed or injured in action by April if the current victim rate continues. The latest estimates allowed the losses of around 4,000.
Time will tell us how North Korea implements what it learned from the Ukraine War. Alexander Nemenov / AFP
North Korea can consider these sacrifices is worth it – if not for the Russian cause, then for what it learns in return.
“It is a dark version of the concept of” You learn by doing “, said Madden, noting that it is still early. “We will need additional incidents and commitments to make more solid observations to find out if they adjust their tactics given the state of play in Russia and Ukraine.”
But there is no doubt that they learn, acquire Essential knowledge for future conflicts This will make North Korea a more difficult combat force in East Asia. They see the Ukrainian use of Weapons systems provided in the United States and westLike Himars and Abrams, for example, and how the Russians adapted them.
“They bring these lessons back to the house in the most difficult way: by bleeding for them,” said Bermudez.