Russia is training thousands of soldiers from North Korea, who are expected to be transferred to the front in Ukraine by the end of 2024, the “Washington Post” reported, citing Ukrainian intelligence sources.
According to these sources, North Korean officers are already in Ukraine to study the front. It is assumed that the North Korean soldiers will be used in the border areas of Russia, which are currently under Ukrainian control, to free up Russian troops for combat operations on Ukrainian territory.
According to “Interfax-Ukraine” and “Kyiv Post” on October 3, six North Korean officers were killed and three were wounded in a missile attack on a Russian training ground in the occupied territory of Donbas. They were there for a meeting with their Russian counterparts “in within the framework of the exchange of experience”.
On October 8, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyun also commented on the possible deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine. “Since Russia and North Korea have concluded an agreement resembling a military alliance, the possibility of sending troops to the front is very likely,” he told parliament.
In June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un a treaty providing for mutual defense. Then, when asked about the possibility of using North Korean soldiers in the war with Ukraine, Putin said: “We have not asked anyone for this, no one has offered it to us.”
It is a fact, however, that in the last two years military ties between the two countries have experienced a renaissance. In July 2023, then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang to “strengthen military ties”, and in September, Kim Jong Un visited the Russian Far East, writes “Now”.
In October 2023, a report by the British Royal Defense Research Institute (RUSI) came out about the beginning of large-scale deliveries of ammunition to Russia from the DPRK. The publication was accompanied by satellite photos. At the end of 2023, Russian Z-Telegram channels massively began to comment on the poor condition of Korean shells and mines used by Russian units in Ukraine.
In January 2024, US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby stated that Russia had received ballistic missiles from the DPRK and had already used them against Ukraine.
According to The Times, North Korea supplies about half of the artillery shells that Russia uses against Ukraine. It is about 3 million projectiles annually, a large part of which are defective.
After Vladimir Putin’s visit to the DPRK in June 2024, there were reports of sending North Korean military engineers and construction workers to Ukraine. According to sources of the South Korean television station TV Chosun, as well as the American Institute for the Study of War, there are ten engineering brigades in the North Korean army, 3-4 of which can be transferred to Russia. In return, Pyongyang can receive up to $115 million a year from Moscow, TV Chosun claims.
“I don’t know what it’s about,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented at the time.
In early July, an elite military training delegation led by the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Hyom Chol, arrived in Russia, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported.