In addition to providing weapons to Russia, North Korea has begun sending its military personnel to Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyun, in turn, said that North Korea may send regular troops to Ukraine to support Russia - 12,000 troops are mentioned.
North Korean soldiers already in Ukraine?
Back in 2023, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced the arrival in the occupied Ukrainian territories of a limited contingent of military personnel from North Korea, in particular engineering units. And at the beginning of October 2024, the head of the Center for countering disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andriy Kovalenko, said that in the Donetsk region, North Korean soldiers were monitoring the state of ammunition. According to Ukrainian media, the North Korean soldiers have already given their first victims.
An anonymous representative of Ukrainian intelligence admits in media statements that the Russian army has formed a "special Buryat battalion", which also includes citizens of North Korea. There are no confirmed data on the number of North Korean servicemen on the territory of Ukraine.
Russia does not officially confirm
The Russian authorities do not officially confirm Pyongyang's participation in the war against Ukraine, limiting themselves to general statements about "deepening strategic cooperation in all areas". In June 2024, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement on mutual military support.
So far, there are only dubious "documents" proving the participation of North Korean military personnel in the war against Ukraine. For example, in a Russian-language Telegram chat dedicated to Pyongyang, an address in Korean, signed by the commander of the First Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Korean People's Army to Kim Jong Un, was published. In it, the officer asks Comrade Kim not to send them to the Kursk region, so that they do not fight "against NATO". This "document" is a gross forgery, the expert on Korean affairs Fyodor Tertytsky is convinced. According to him, there are both logical and factual errors in the document.
What troops could Pyongyang send to Moscow?
If North Korean soldiers aren't on the front lines in Ukraine yet, that doesn't mean they won't be there in the future, says Andrey Lankov, a professor of history and international relations at Kunming University in Seoul. According to him, the strengthening of the Russian army with soldiers from North Korea is extremely profitable for Putin, since it allows the Russian authorities to avoid a new mobilization. "The war is generally popular in Russia, but only on the condition that the majority of the population will not participate in it and will not break away from their everyday life because of it," explains Lankov.
He believes that right now the Russian army needs infantrymen the most. In return, the North Korean leadership is interested in receiving money and technology. However, the expert doubts that such cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is possible in the long term. Now the relations between the countries can reach a new level, but as soon as the hostilities in Ukraine end, they will return to their previous format, since North Korea will not be of economic interest to Russia, Lankov predicted.
In which international conflicts has the DPRK army been involved?
North Korea has previously sent its military overseas to participate in armed conflicts. For example, in the 1970s and 1980s, they were in Angola as part of the so-called "military advisers" - mainly with the task of training the local troops, but also to participate in battles against the South African forces. The leadership in Pyongyang has also sent its military to Uganda, Chad and Mozambique on similar "missions". The North Korean army also trained the South West African Liberation Army guerrillas, who led a long insurgency against the South African government until the very end of apartheid.
In the vast majority of cases, North Korea has only sent instructors, Tertitsky emphasizes. He noted that the participation of an army contingent from North Korea in hostilities outside the country is a rare phenomenon. The expert points to the participation of North Korean pilots in the Vietnam War on the side of North Vietnam as an exception. However, Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyun admits that Pyongyang may be preparing to send its military to the front in Ukraine, given the recent treaty between Russia and North Korea. "This statement makes me take such news seriously," concludes Tertitsky.