Putin's "Special Buryats". How North Korean soldiers are fighting against Ukraine: exclusive details
The losses of the DPRK army in the war against Ukraine are already several hundred killed, wounded, and missing, an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense tells LIGA.net . North Korean servicemen are still not ready for the Ukrainian war.
"People who grew up in an authoritarian state filled with tales of the 1950-1953 Korean War were suddenly forced far from home in the conditions of modern brutal high-tech warfare," the intelligence officer explains.
But it would be a mistake to assume that North Korea is not a capable adversary, Chun In-Bam, a retired South Korean army lieutenant general and expert on Korean politics and military relations, adds to LIGA.net .
North Korean soldiers are learning. And when they gain enough experience, they will pose a problem not only for Ukraine or South Korea.
We learned where, how, and with what soldiers from the DPRK are fighting for Russia – details.
They don't know the language, they don't understand the realities. What the first battles showed
On December 14, North Korean troops, which Russia began using in assaults in the Kursk region since November 2024, already suffered their first losses.
This is the first overseas deployment of the KPA since 1953, the head of the ISDP Korean Center, former head of the Swedish delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervision Commission (NNSC) in Korea, retired Major General Mats Engman, reminds LIGA.net .
The assault near Plekhov (Kursk Region) probably involved more than 500 North Korean soldiers from the 92nd and 94th separate special operations brigades of North Korea.
Russia uses people from North Korea specifically for meat assaults, following the Russian example, an interlocutor at the GUR of the Ministry of Defense emphasizes to LIGA.net :
"Disoriented DPRK servicemen are concentrated in small groups of up to 20-30 soldiers each time in one place, from where, on command, a desperate offensive begins. Ignorance of the localities, the realities of this war, and the Russian language contribute to the misunderstanding that the Koreans are going to certain death."
Video footage of attacks involving Russian and North Korean troops shows that they went on the offensive in broad daylight, openly walking through minefields and not hiding from Ukrainian drones. And, ultimately, they came under fire from drones and artillery.
However, while during the first battles it seemed that the North Korean military did not perceive the Ukrainian drones as a threat, after serious losses they began to set up additional observation posts to detect them.
The basic training of North Korean soldiers is a modernized legacy of close relations with the USSR during the Cold War, and later relations with Russia and China.
"The Soviet specifics of fighting among the DPRK military are the same as the Russian army, which relies on the strategy of pelting the enemy with its own corpses," adds a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
But North Korean soldiers should never be underestimated, retired South Korean Army Lieutenant General Chun In-bum tells LIGA.net . "Overall, they will be as good as any Russian recruit, and they may or may not be better, depending on their equipment and training," he says.
Both, as Ukrainian intelligence notes, are not enough yet.
Several weeks are allocated for the coordination of the military from North Korea, LIGA.net notes in the GUR of the Ministry of Defense. Moscow has appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Yunus-Bek Yevkurov as responsible for monitoring the training and adaptation of the DPRK troops.
According to South Korean intelligence, as of December 19, at least 100 North Korean soldiers participating in hostilities on Russian territory were killed and about 1,000 more were injured during clashes with Ukrainian troops.
As of December 20, losses as a result of clashes with Ukrainian troops and "friendly fire" from Russian servicemen amount to several hundred killed, wounded and missing, the GUR clarified to LIGA.net . "Such assault groups are being supplemented with personnel, in particular, from among the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army," the intelligence source adds.
When asked whether there are any prisoners from the DPRK as a result of the fighting, he answers laconicly: "In progress."
Infantry is meat. The main threat is different.
The Russians are not paying attention to the equipment of their allies. According to intelligence, at the front lines of the Kursk region near the villages of Ruska Konopelka, Plyokhovo, and Ulanok, units of the North Korean army are complaining about a shortage of ammunition for hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.
Moscow armed the DPRK with, among other things, 60-mm mortars, AK-12 assault rifles, RPK/PKM machine guns, SVD/SVCh sniper rifles, Phoenix ATGMs, and RPG-7. "The North Koreans, or, as they are called in the Russian occupation army, "special Buryats," were also given some night vision devices, thermal imagers, collimator sights, and binoculars," the GUR lists.
The coordination of actions between Russian and North Korean units is a separate topic altogether. Russians are a very xenophobic nation, the intelligence officer notes.
"The uniqueness of Koreans does not allow them to organically integrate into the combined units of the Marine Corps and Airborne Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, in which North Korean servicemen, in particular, are fighting in Kursk," he states.
"Skin color, language barrier, non-native behavior, and even the red tape of distinction on the uniforms of the North Korean military interfere," adds the GUR representative.
The secrecy surrounding the participation of North Korean troops in the war until recently also did not help Russian-Korean relations. Personnel from the North were transported separately from the Russians in civilian trucks, and to gain access to the areas where their units were deployed, Russian soldiers and officers had to undergo unpleasant FSB checks, which confiscated personal phones and other devices that could record the presence of Koreans.
As a result, misunderstandings between soldiers of the two countries sometimes escalate into clashes. The most famous example is the "friendly fire" of disoriented North Korean fighters on the vehicles of the so-called "Akhmat" battalion, and eight Kadyrov's supporters were killed.
For Ukraine, the much bigger problem is not the North Korean infantry, but the North Korean artillery, the GUR emphasizes: "We are talking about the M-1989 Koksan self-propelled artillery installations, which the Russians use on various sections of the front, as well as in peaceful front-line settlements. But we can say that the artillery is being transported for use not by the Koreans, but by the Russians. The Koreans are needed like meat."
How North Korean troops are changing warfare – what's next?
Russia's involvement of North Korean military personnel is changing the nature of the war, retired Korean Major General Mats Engman tells LIGA.net .
"This is no longer a war between Ukraine and Russia, this is a war between Ukraine and the coalition. Yes, Ukraine is supported by many countries, but not by military action," he emphasizes. "Russia is also supported by many countries, but now by military action. This should make it easier for many Western countries to think and argue in favor of supporting Ukraine."
The current number of North Korean soldiers will not affect the outcome of the fighting.
"If the DPRK continues to rotate its roughly 12,000 troops or sends additional forces to significantly increase their numbers—perhaps to 50,000 or more—it would change the course of the war," Engman notes.
North Korea will continue to participate in the war, Chun is convinced: "Perhaps even after its active phase – as a force providing workers for reconstruction work. The DPRK will remain in this zone for the foreseeable future."
And this will affect the security situation both in the world and on the Korean Peninsula, he believes. The increase in North Korea's activity indicates the growth of Pyongyang's capabilities.
"North Korean forces will receive real advanced combat experience and the most modern weapons from Russia, technologies and combat tactics," he reminds. "This is a threat to other countries. Pyongyang has long operated in the Middle East and Africa. The North Koreans will produce increasingly better weapons for export to these and other possible combat zones."
The benefits to North Korea from increased Russian support in various forms – financial, economic, infrastructural, military – are clear, Engman agrees. "This will allow North Korea to develop its military capabilities, including long-range missiles, nuclear weapons and conventional forces," he explains. "North Korea will suffer less from sanctions and be less inclined to agree to denuclearization."
Increased cooperation and rapprochement between Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran is reducing the effect of North Korea's isolation. Together, this new "grouping" has more opportunities to respond to various international events, Engman emphasizes.
"But even with this experience, I don't think the KPA will pose a threat to countries other than South Korea," he concludes. "It simply lacks the necessary logistical base to fight independently 'outside its territory,' and it has shown no political intent to develop such a capability."