North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Photo: Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal has reported it is possible that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un might have sent younger soldiers to Russia, aged under 20 and without appropriate military training.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Details: The WSJ reports that video evidence and intelligence reports suggest that the North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia are likely young men under the age of 20 who are “in the early stages of military conscription”.
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The WSJ reported that these soldiers’ training has focused on assassinations and infrastructure destruction in the mountainous regions of South Korea, “a far cry from the trench warfare unfolding in the flat plains along the Ukrainian-Russian border”. Most of these recruits have probably never left North Korea, and the country’s army is equipped with outdated conventional equipment.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, assessing the military, called them “mere cannon fodder mercenaries”.
The US, South Korea, and Ukraine estimate that approximately 3,000 North Korean troops have arrived in Russia this month.
Former South Korean defence official James J.B. Park suggests that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may want to first gauge the domestic reaction to this decision, as well as the Kremlin’s response, by sending what he considers to be a “relatively expendable” resource.
Park believes that if Russian leader Vladimir Putin demands additional reinforcements or Kim decides to fulfil recently strengthened bilateral commitments, these troops will pave the way for more experienced units.
The WSJ also reported that it is still unclear what role the North Korean military will play in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Without taking part in hostilities, they could gain experience by observing the use of drones and the conditions of war, especially in cooperation with the Russians, who use North Korean munitions and missiles. On the other hand, North Korea’s direct involvement in hostilities would signal a dramatic escalation of the conflict, which has been going on for over two years, the US and NATO allies have said.
Background:
- On 8 October, South Korea’s Ministry of Defence said it believed that North Korea was likely to send some of its regular armed forces to fight in Ukraine on Russia’s side.
- On 13 October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that North Korea was not only supplying weapons to Russia, but also military personnel. He urged Ukraine’s partners to increase their support. On 17 October, Zelenskyy said that Russia was aiming to recruit over 10,000 North Korean soldiers to fight in the war against Ukraine.
- On 18 October, Kyrylo Budanov, Head of Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, confirmed that approximately 11,000 North Korean infantry troops were being trained in Russia’s east. The soldiers are expected to be ready for combat against Ukraine by 1 November.
- On 23 October, South Korean intelligence reported that North Korea had sent 3,000 troops to Russia to support Russian forces in the war against Ukraine and was also working to isolate the families of those soldiers to prevent information about their deployment in Russia from spreading.
- Also on 23 October, the first North Korean units that had completed military training in Russia were spotted in the war zone in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
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