Are North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine - and how can they help the Russian military

On October 3, the Ukrainian media wrote about the death of six North Korean soldiers from rocket fire on the territory of Donbas, which is under Russian occupation.

According to the sources, a group of officers from the DPRK came there to meet with their Russian counterparts "as part of an exchange of experiences". Is this really the case, and if so, how can the military from North Korea help Russian troops fighting in Ukraine?

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine reported that a limited contingent of military personnel from North Korea, in particular a unit of engineering troops, had arrived in the occupied territory of Ukraine.

The Russian side did not comment on this information.

On Tuesday, October 8, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun announced in the South Korean parliament about the possible sending of North Korean soldiers to Ukraine to support Russia. He believes that the information about the death of North Korean soldiers in Donbass is "very probable".

"Since Russia and North Korea have concluded an agreement similar to a military alliance, the possibility of sending troops to the front is very likely," the minister was quoted as saying by South Korean outlet Yonhap.

It is a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed in June 2024 by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Information about the possible participation of the North Korean army in hostilities in Ukraine on the Russian side has already appeared. In September 2023, Vladimir Putin called such reports "complete nonsense" - then he met with the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un at the Russian cosmodrome "Shidni".

In June 2024, when Putin signed an agreement with Kim Jong Un, which, among other things, provides for mutual defense, he was asked about the possible participation of North Korean soldiers in a "special military operation" (as the Russian authorities call the war in Ukraine).

"We are not asking for it from anyone, no one has offered it to us," answered the Russian president.

Is there any evidence of military aid to North Korea

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang hides the strengthening of military cooperation.

In July 2023, then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu went to Pyongyang, as Russian state media wrote, for "strengthening military ties", and in September, Kim Jong Un visited the Russian Far East.

At the same time, in September 2023, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol announced at the UN General Assembly about the possible supply of weapons to Russia from North Korea in exchange for Russian military technology.

 

On October 16, 2023, a report by the British Royal Defense Research Institute (RUSI) was published on the beginning of large-scale deliveries of ammunition to Russia from North Korea. The report is illustrated with satellite images.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmytro Peskov said in response that the report has no evidence.

"It's not just the British intelligence service, it's also the American intelligence service, they keep reporting on it without providing any evidence," Peskov said.

But already at the end of 2023, the technical characteristics of North Korean shells and mines, which were used by Russian units in Ukraine, were discussed in full force in Russian military communities (the reviews were mostly bad).

And in January 2024, US National Security Council representative John Kirby said that Russia had received ballistic missiles from North Korea and had already used them against Ukraine.

Reports of Pyongyang's plans to send military engineers and construction workers to Ukraine emerged in June 2024, shortly after Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea.

According to sources from South Korean broadcaster TV Chosun, as well as from the American Institute for the Study of War, the North Korean army has 10 engineering brigades, of which three or four may be transferred to Russia. For this, Pyongyang can receive up to 115 million dollars a year from Moscow, claims TV Chosun.

"I don't know what it is about," said spokesman Dmytro Peskov.

And at the beginning of July, North Korea's state news agency KCNA already informed about the departure of an elite delegation to Russia for military training led by the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Gim Chol. In response to a journalist's request to clarify the purpose of the North Korean army visit, Dmytro Peskov suggested contacting the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

What is known about the North Korean army

Like North Korea itself, its military is as closed a structure as possible, its composition is only tentatively known, and estimates of combat capability are controversial. Its main characteristic is the number.

General military service applies in the country, which also includes women, the term of compulsory service is from three to 10 years, depending on the type of army.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in 2018 North Korea's armed forces were the fourth largest in the world and numbered around 1.2 million people.

Andrey Gubin, an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, points out that these estimates may be overestimated: "Today, the number of members of the Korean People's Army is probably not more than 850,000. There are also estimates of 650,000 soldiers in combat units".

At the same time, the Russian scientist notes the huge mobilization potential of the North Korean army: "At least four million people are in reserve, and the total resources for mobilization are 6.2 million".

In North Korea, there are also many paramilitary formations - the so-called people's militia.  

 

"It includes the worker-peasant Red Guard (senior reservists) - about 1.5 million, the youth Red Guard - 700,000 (high school students), the troops of the Ministries of Public Security and State Security - 30,000. There are at least 200,000 members of auxiliary units, including construction and security units," Gubin writes.

North Korea's government, which is under sanctions and in dire need of a budget supplement, but also has a huge docile mass of military-trained people, seems to have no problem sending some of them to the aid of one of its few allies.

Moreover, the current nature of hostilities in Ukraine requires a constant replenishment of human resources.

But not everything is so simple.

 

It will not be possible to hide North Korea's involvement

The North Korean army was modeled after the Soviet one and uses Soviet military achievements, but, unlike the Russian one, it has no experience in real combat operations. If we take its main forces - motorized infantry units - it is not very clear how they could participate in the war in Ukraine on the side of Russia.

To act, as they were taught, independently within large mechanized connections? But this tactic does not work in Ukraine, the Russian army has seen this many times and tries to attack less often with tank columns.

Working in small groups? But that requires a completely different level of coordination and interaction – at the very least, the absence of a language barrier.

In both cases, losses are inevitable, and this factor can become critical. They will not be able to hide Pyongyang's participation in the Russian military campaign.

And the large number of killed and captured North Korean soldiers, which Ukraine will certainly announce, can undermine the image of the indomitability of the armed forces of North Korea, which is cultivated by the North Korean state propaganda.

The loss of control over military personnel, if they do not operate separately, but as part of Russian units, represents a certain danger for the leadership of North Korea.

Despite their allied relations, the ideologies of the Russian and North Korean regimes differ significantly.

The construction units of North Korea are also troops

All this does not exclude the participation of the army from the DPRK in the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. Pyongyang needs money and technology, Moscow soldiers and ammunition, both sides are interested in developing cooperation.

For many years, the North Korean army performed the functions of cheap labor - many of its units were analogous to the Soviet construction battalion. Military experts highly appreciate the quality of the defense facilities erected on the territory of the country by North Korean engineering and construction units.

 

In all probability, precisely such units can be useful for the Russian army. They can be based in the background and deal with military infrastructure - building underground warehouses and fortifications, roads and bridges.

By replacing the rear units with North Korean units, the Russian command gets an additional human resource that can be transferred to the front line.