When they fight with Russia, the North Koreans are fighting their own war
North Korean troops fighting for Moscow in Russia’s Kursk region have been given their own territory to attack. Unlike their Russian counterparts, they support armored vehicles with no weapons.
When attacking, the Russians often don’t pause to rally or retreat, as they often do when taking heavy losses, Ukrainian soldiers and U.S. officials say. Instead, they move through minefields with heavy fire and deploy 40 or more troops.
If you reserve a spot, you won’t try to keep it. They leave that to the Russian reinforcements, as they fall back and prepare for another attack.
They also developed unique styles and habits. When the North Koreans fight the drone, they send one soldier as a decoy for others to shoot it down. If they were seriously wounded, they were ordered to detonate bombs with one hand on a pin under their necks as Ukrainian soldiers approached.
The North Koreans, sent to Russia to join Moscow’s forces in Kursk, essentially operate as a separate fighting force, Ukrainian troops and US officials say, separated by language, training and military culture.
“Partly because two different militaries don’t train together or work together and partly because, I think, the Russian military culture, that is, we don’t respect the capabilities and norms and duties of allied forces,” said Celte A. Wallander said. He served as the Pentagon’s Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs until his inauguration.
The North Koreans are special operations troops trained for surgical strike missions, she said, but the Russians essentially use them as foot soldiers.
Last fall, North Korea sent about 11,000 troops to Russia’s southern Kursk region to help Moscow’s forces, which Ukrainians seized in a surprise invasion last winter. About a third of the North Korean troops involved in the first engagement in early December were killed or wounded, Ukrainian and US officials said.
Ukraine’s top military commander, General Oleksandr Sirsky, said this week that North Korean casualties continued to mount, with about half of those sent wounded or killed but warned that they were “highly motivated, well trained” and “. brilliant”
A senior US defense official said reinforcements were expected “in the next couple of months”.
The New York Times spoke to a dozen Ukrainian soldiers and commanders in direct combat with North Korean troops, as well as four U.S. defense officials and military analysts, to paint a picture of how the North Koreans behave on the battlefield. The Times also saw a video of the North Korean attack provided by the Ukrainian military.
U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss battlefield details. Ukrainian soldiers and their commanders asked to be identified only by their first names, according to military protocol.
North Korea’s 1.2 million-strong military ranks among the world’s largest, and its entry into the war has seen significant progress in the war, which is now in its fourth year.
Even before North Korea sent troops to Russia, it was a major supporter of Russia’s war effort. Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials say it has sent millions of artillery shells to Moscow — about half of the ammunition currently fired by Russia each day — and more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles.
Kremlin He rejected the deployment North Korean soldiers are taking steps to hide their involvement on the battlefield, he said.
For example, North Koreans have been given what one Pentagon official described as “pocket junk” – documents documenting their origin from the Russian Far East.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said one of the captured soldiers was found in southern Siberia with a military ID in the name of a resident of Tuva. The fake ID used information from a real Russian citizen, Ukrainian intelligence officials said.
Attempts to conceal Ukraine’s involvement in North Korea could not be independently verified.
As the North Korean troops provided additional manpower, the Russians struggled to enter the battlefield.
The problems ranged from minor issues, such as finding small uniforms that fit North Korean troops, to communications problems that led to direct clashes between North Korean and Russian forces at least twice due to mistaken identity, US officials and Ukrainian soldiers said.
The Russians are taking steps to resolve the issues, the Ukrainian military said, but have not yet established a more integrated combat force.
“Now they are starting to form groups that have a translator or a Russian-speaking person speaking on the radio,” said Andrii, the Ukrainian commander.
Andrey described the attack earlier this month using video from a drone camera, providing a window into North Korea’s tactics.
Seen in thermal imaging, North Korean soldiers stand as small black dots on a snow-covered field. They had marched about five miles—many were killed along the way—and were gathering en masse at the tree line to attack a nearby Ukrainian trench.
“There are about 50 of them here,” Andrey said.
Some were injured, but as the video shows, they did not back down. They waited for reinforcements and then attacked. Attack teams consisted of five to eight soldiers.
The North Koreans take heavy casualties, Andrey said, but continue to send in new units.
“It’s only forward, forward,” he said. “It’s motivation, order and strict discipline.”
The “shock brigade” tactic, in which soldiers march forward with little concern for the chaos that awaits them, is prevalent in North Korean military training and propaganda. The strategy, adopted from the days of the Korean War, has resulted in more casualties in open, flat terrain in combat with drones, according to South Korean intelligence officials. But the North says it considers those losses necessary costs to become more capable in modern warfare.
“It looks like they came here to die, and they know it themselves,” said the army commander, Oleksii.
Ukrainian intelligence officials said they were providing insight into the deployment of two North Korean soldiers captured on January 9 in Kursk. And excerpts from dozens of diaries and communications collected from North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian special operations forces, which U.S. officials say are authentic.
A North Korean soldier wrote in a diary that he was motivated to join Russia’s fight to save himself from an unknown destruction.
“I am wearing the clothes of the revolution to protect the Commander-in-Chief,” he wrote. “I have betrayed the party that believed in me and I have acted ungrateful to the Commander-in-Chief. The sins I have committed are unforgivable, but my homeland has given me a way to redemption, a new beginning in life.
It also includes practical details on how to shoot the drone.
“Similarly, the drone has a range of 7 meters, while the projectiles have a range of 10-12 meters. If the bait stops, the drone also stops moving. At this point, the sniper will remove the drone.
North Korea’s methods forced the Ukrainians to adapt.
For example, North Korean drones generally do not target individuals, but instead hunt groups, he said.
And given the number of North Korean attacks, the standard practice of placing anti-personnel mines at 15 meters does not work well. Now the soldiers are trying to leave more than five meters between mines, he said.
Interestingly, Ukrainian soldiers say that the North Koreans try to remove their dead and wounded from the battlefield unlike the Russians.
Andrey shared a drone video of the process as some dead and wounded soldiers were being dragged out — dragged by their arms or placed on sleds — while others were moved to the scene.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the North Korean army sent to Ukraine includes about 500 officers and at least three generals.
The generals are posted to Russia’s command and control headquarters, US defense officials said, and that’s where the objectives are determined.
Commanders will decide when they need artillery and how long to wait before ground forces can take action, a senior U.S. defense official said. They compare it to the soldiers in the field, so that the soldiers do not talk to their Russian counterparts, they try to reduce the misunderstanding.
Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk say North Korea’s tactics are expensive but effective.
“The Koreans have started to push the front line, targeting less defended areas, and are weakening our troops that way,” said Army Commander Oleksiy.
Fighting one of the world’s largest armies was more than enough, he said, but fighting two was “on the edge” of what was possible.
Finding the prisoners proved challenging because the North Koreans were trained not to be taken alive and Russian drones were always watching, he said.
“If the Russians see the Koreans being captured, they will use drones to destroy them – they will kill both the Koreans and our soldiers,” Oleksiy said, adding that some of his brigade had recently been killed this way.
Ukrainian soldiers say the North Koreans should not be underestimated.
“They’re being tested, really tested,” said Andriy, the drone’s commander. They had no combat experience; But he said, “Now they’re here, gaining, getting stronger.”
Lyubov Sholudko They reported from Ukraine and Choi Sang-hoon Contributed from Seoul.
