[New Year feature] One year since the deployment of North Korean troops to the Russia-Ukraine war

① The North Korean military has evolved

Maidan Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. This is where the 2014 Euromaidan revolution took place and is also called the ‘Square of Democracy’. When we visited in October last year, many flags had been planted there to honor those who fell in the war in Ukraine. Notably, many markers indicated deaths in Kursk.

At Maidan Square in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, flags honoring the war dead of Ukraine are planted.

Provided by News and Documentary Korea

On August 6, 2024, Ukraine crossed the Russian border at the head of an elite unit and seized Kursk. Kursk was a rural area centered on farming and livestock. In the 1980s, Russia built a combined heat and power plant in this rural region and constructed gas pipelines to Europe. The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, one of the three major nuclear power plants in Russia, is also located there. Among its districts, the city of Sudzha in Kursk has the gateway for Russian natural gas bound for Europe, giving it great strategic value.

Ukraine's thrust into Kursk aimed to disperse the firepower of Russian forces concentrated on the eastern front (Donbas) and to obtain a ‘card’ that could be exchanged for Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia in future end-of-war talks. For Russia, Ukraine's seizure of Kursk was a complete surprise.

Areas of engagement by North Korean troops dispatched to Russia

As the first case since World War II in which its mainland was occupied by foreign troops, the political burden inside Russia was heavy. To send forces to defend Kursk, Russia inevitably had to divert soldiers fighting in Donbas. This is why Russia wanted North Korean troops to be dispatched.

On June 19, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang. Together with State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un, he signed the ‘Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation’. The core clause of this treaty is Article 4: “If either party is subjected to an armed attack and placed in a state of war, the other party shall, without delay, provide military and other assistance by all means at its disposal.” In effect, it is a military alliance. The dispatch of North Korean troops moved swiftly. In October of the same year, 13,000 North Korean personnel arrived in Vladivostok, and in early December they were deployed to Kursk.

North Korean troops dispatched to Ukraine train at a training ground in Russia's Kursk.

Captured from Korean Central Television. Provided by News and Documentary Korea

At the outset of the advance into Kursk, the Ukrainian unit in the vanguard was the elite 80th Air Assault Brigade. This unit began full-fledged engagements with North Korean troops in January last year. The company commander of the 80th Brigade's reconnaissance unit, call sign ‘Lee’, spotted North Korean soldiers moving in groups. “Through a reconnaissance drone we saw North Korean troops walking in groups of 10, 20, and 30 without thinking,” he said, “and they were easily taken out.”

The defining feature of the Ukrainian battlefield is ‘drone warfare’. Drones carry explosives and detonate in enemy positions. In particular, FPV (first-person view) drones are lethal enough to cause many fatalities. For North Korean troops, this was a weapon they had neither seen nor heard of. Drones flew in and exploded among clusters of North Korean soldiers, causing a stream of casualties.

North Korean soldiers patrol an area near Russia's Kursk.

Captured from Korean Central Television. Provided by Docu and News Korea

But this was limited to the early period. A reconnaissance soldier in the same 80th Brigade, call sign ‘Brown’, said, “Over time, the North Korean troops evolved,” adding, “While we were distracted by larger enemy formations, other North Korean troops quietly maneuvered around to our flanks and attacked.” North Korean operation of drones was also observed. After a couple of months, they were no longer a disorderly force helpless against drones.

Ukraine's 225th Independent Assault Battalion fought the fiercest engagements with North Korean troops, using armored vehicles and drones. It was this unit that secured pieces of North Korean uniforms and notes written in Korean from the battlefield and made them public worldwide.

Sgt. Evan of the 225th said, “North Korean troops fought in ways we had not seen before.” He said, “We were set up in a field, and around 5 a.m., even though a drone operator was conducting reconnaissance, North Korean troops, camouflaged with brush, crawled as much as 1.8㎞ to within 50 m, right in front of us. We were hit by a sudden raid and the firefight began, and only two to three hours later, when reinforcements arrived, were we able to eliminate all of them.”

Sgt. Evan testified, “I was truly surprised. The North Korean troops were very well trained,” adding, “Even more surprising was that none of them fled or surrendered; it was literally as if they had only a ‘one-way ticket’.”

A Ukrainian soldier operates a drone.

Provided by Docu and News Korea

A Russian soldier captured by Ukraine said, “I saw North Korean soldiers at a training center. There were about 1,500 of them, and they learned everything Russian soldiers learn: combat actions, shooting, tactics, and strategy. We ate together and showered together.” Showing a map, he added, “That place was the ‘Postoyalye Dvory training center’ in Kursk,” and “interpreters helped with conversations with the North Korean troops.”

Because the dispatch was unprepared, there was considerable confusion at first. The North Korean troops could not distinguish Ukrainian soldiers from Russian soldiers at all. There was even an incident in which they took a Russian officer prisoner. Russian troops wore red armbands for identification. The prisoner said, “Without a red armband, that is the end. You will be shot on sight by the North Korean troops.”

Language barriers were also serious. Col. Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, head of public affairs at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces who operated in Kursk for nine months, said, “Our drone footage captured scenes where Russian and North Korean soldiers argued with each other and it escalated into a shootout.”

North Korean soldiers salute a funeral wreath for the fallen near Kursk.

Captured from Korean Central Television. Provided by Docu and News Korea

Most of the Russian prisoners interviewed said the North Korean units were very strong. One Russian prisoner said, “The North Korean troops trained more frequently than we did, and their instructors put them through more intense training. Even our instructors took them as a model, comparing how they did things and what we were doing wrong.”

Another Russian prisoner, Mikhail, said, “The North Korean troops were fast, brave, and did not slack off. They were like Terminators. They ran, jumped, and did not get tired.” This suggests that the North Korean unit deployed to Kursk was not a regular unit but an elite force. Some believe that the Reconnaissance General Bureau and the Storm Corps were dispatched.

Another prisoner, Atom, said, “Around April 2025 we fought the North Korean troops, and they fought extremely well,” adding, “I heard that most of the Kursk region was liberated by the North Korean troops.” The Russian military retook Kursk after nine months. It was an important victory, significant enough that President Putin rushed there in uniform. This implies that North Korean forces made a substantial contribution to the win.

North Korean troops dispatched to Russia train near Kursk.

Captured from Korean Central Television. Provided by Docu and News Korea

There are very many prisoners of war on both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war. However, only two North Korean POWs are publicly known. Why are there so few?

In February last year, the Ukrainian government revealed North Korean prisoners. One had a bandage wrapped around his chin, and the other was lying down; their voices and faces became known worldwide. Since then, no additional North Korean POWs have been publicized. That question began to be answered after we met Ukraine's 225th Battalion.

Sgt. Petro of the 225th engaged in a firefight with North Korean troops at dawn in February last year. He approached a wounded North Korean soldier in accordance with engagement protocols, to search his body. But the soldier was holding a grenade and immediately pulled the safety pin. Sgt. Petro barely dodged, but the North Korean soldier died. “Every North Korean soldier we fought chose to blow himself up rather than become a prisoner,” Sgt. Petro said. “This is different from Russian troops, most of whom choose the path of captivity.”

Among Russian POWs, many choose captivity rather than death. One Russian prisoner said, “When the Ukrainian shelling began, I went to a Ukrainian position on my own and surrendered. I realized I was nothing but cannon fodder and did not want to become ‘Number 200’ (killed in action).” Another prisoner said, “The comrades I fought alongside suggested surrender. I realized I was only 25 years old, and we decided to surrender without firing.”

A view of a prisoner-of-war camp in Ukraine

Provided by News and Documentary Korea

North Korean soldiers who never surrender and choose to blow themselves up came as a shock to the Ukrainian forces. Col. Dmytrashkivskyi said, “A battalion commander captured a North Korean soldier, but the soldier bit through a vein in his own arm and died.”

Andrii Cherniak, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate, said, “Because of (North Korea's) propaganda, North Korean soldiers are completely indoctrinated people who have no understanding of how the world works,” adding, “Thinking of Kim Jong Un as the ‘sun’, North Korean soldiers are thoroughly indoctrinated to commit suicide if captured; I did not expect the indoctrination to be this extreme.”

A force always ready to die, that advances only forward, that knows no fear and evolves on its own in real combat for Russia, bringing such North Korean troops into the war was a masterstroke. For Ukraine, forced to retreat from Kursk by an unexpected North Korean force, it was a bitter loss.

It is later known that North Korea dispatched engineer and demining units as well. A Ukrainian Ministry of Defense official who requested anonymity said, “North Korea has developed from a relationship of military cooperation with Russia to a relationship of blood alliance,” adding, “This will have many implications for security on the Korean Peninsula.” He said, “The Ukrainian military was not a force prepared for the North Korean troops, but I hope the South Korean military is a force that prepares.”