North Koreans are ‘disciplined’, armed with high-quality ammo, says Ukraine

Ukraine’s new enemies are learning on the battlefield but have fatal orders to follow to avoid capture, says Kyiv.

Despite a push by the United States to end Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces appear set for another hurdle almost three years into the conflict.

According to South Korea, North Korea is preparing to send more soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine, which has recently captured several North Korean soldiers, says overall, its new enemies are learning on the battlefield, becoming increasingly disciplined.

“With about four months passing since North Korea’s deployment to the Russia-Ukraine war, it is presumed that follow-up measures and preparations for additional deployment are being accelerated due to the occurrence of many casualties and prisoners of war,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement they made public on Friday.

Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) observed on January 2 that new North Korean troops were rotated into combat positions to replace losses.

The GUR estimated North Korea has so far sent about 11,000 soldiers to fight in Russia’s region of Kursk, where Ukraine has staged a counter-invasion to distract Russian troops.

That force was reported to have arrived in Kursk on November 4, and they entered the battle in earnest 10 days later.

Since then, Ukraine says it has inflicted high casualties, but at a slowing rate, as North Koreans learn and adapt.

In their first 40 days in the field, Ukraine said North Koreans suffered 3,000 casualties, or 75 a day, while in the following 20 days they suffered another 1,000 casualties, or 50 a day.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the toll. However, Western officials recently concurred with these Ukrainian figures.

I think there’s no reason why [North Korea] should not keep sending in battle casualty replacements and not to expand the North Korean force,” said Keir Giles, Russia and Eurasia expert at Chatham House, a UK-based think tank.

“Russia – if all the estimates are to be believed – still badly needs the manpower, and North Korea still plainly values what it’s getting in exchange for this. So why would this force not be just the precursor to a much larger deployment?” he told Al Jazeera.

Grim orders

Moscow has been cagey about the presence of North Korean soldiers, leaving Ukraine and its Western partners as the main sources of information about their alleged military conduct.

In recent weeks, Kyiv has suggested there are grim orders at play – executions and suicides to hide identities and prevent being captured alive.

“After the battles with our guys, the Russians are also trying to … literally burn the faces of the killed North Korean soldiers,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel last month – an apparent effort to conceal their ethnic identity.

In December he wrote, “their own people are executing them.”

Killed North Koreans have been found to be carrying papers falsely identifying them as Russian citizens, Ukraine’s army has said.

Giles suggested Russian pride could be a factor.

“[Russian leaders] don’t want this to become an issue within Russia itself because it undermines the myth that Russia does not need allies, that it is a superpower… that it is perfectly capable of winning wars on its own,” said Giles.

Ukrainian troops and officials also claim that North Koreans have been instructed to kill themselves rather than surrender.

Zelenskyy last week decorated the paratroopers of the 95th Air Assault Brigade who captured the first two North Korean POWs on January 9 and 11.

Previously, wounded North Koreans are understood to have tried to lure their captors into a deathtrap, detonating a grenade as Ukrainians approached.

Ukrainian paratroopers caught a third North Korean POW on Monday, after rebuffing an assault.

In their opinion, he tried to kill himself.

“When the [van that would transport him] drove up, there were concrete pillars under the road, and he accelerated and hit his head on the pillar. He hit it very hard and passed out,” the paratroopers said on January 21.

According to Giles, “the fact that they only have three prisoners… is a good indication that measures are indeed being taken to make sure North Koreans don’t get caught.”

One prisoner, a reconnaissance sniper, said h