Last fall, North Korea sent about 11,000 soldiers to assist Russian troops in the Kursk region, where Ukrainians captured territory as a result of a sudden invasion last summer. According to Ukrainian and American officials, since the first combat encounter in early December, about a third of the North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded, writes The New York Times. Meanwhile, according to a senior U.S. defense official, "within the next two months" reinforcement from North Korea is expected.
The North Korean armed forces, numbering 1.2 million servicemen, are among the largest standing armies in the world, and their entry into the war marked a deep escalation in the war that has been ongoing for almost three years. Previously, North Korea sent millions of artillery shells and more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow.
The entry of North Korean troops into the war changed the tactics of the warring parties. According to Ukrainian soldiers and American officials interviewed by NYT, when North Koreans attack, they do not pause for regrouping or retreat, as the Russians often do when they start taking heavy losses. Instead, they advance under heavy fire across fields littered with mines, sending a wave of 40 or more soldiers into the attack.
When dealing with a drone, North Koreans send one soldier as bait so that others can shoot it down. If severely wounded, they are instructed to detonate a grenade to avoid being captured alive.
Capturing prisoners has proven to be a difficult task also because Russian drone operators constantly monitor them. "If the Russians see that Koreans are being captured, they use drones to finish them off — killing both Koreans and our soldiers," said a Ukrainian soldier.
Photo: The New York Times