The elite North Korean troops recently deployed to Russia are, indeed, special forces — but they don’t exactly look like their best members. The doubt is raised by a former North Korean special forces soldier.
North Korean defectors in South Korea, who closely follow reports of North Korean soldiers joining Russian forces in Ukraine, have raised doubts about their combat readiness.
Contrary to what North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said, saying that each of his troops is worth 100, South Korean officials described the troops sent to Ukraine as young people e inexperienced (or, more specifically, “cannon fodder”).
Lee Woong-gilwho defected to South Korea in 2007 after serving in North Korea’s Storm Corps, told troops sent to Russia “they don’t appear to be members of level 1 teams”,
The soldiers of the North Korean “Storm Corps” are used to being “deployed abroad in highly dangerous missionssuch as the abduction and murder of North Korean defectors, missionaries and South Korean secret agents”, explains Woong-gil.
Images circulating on Russian social media appear to show North Korean soldiers more lows and with a smaller structurewhich leads us to believe that they may be malnourished e vulnerable to disease.
Woong-gil recalls that even during his time serving in the Storm Corps, soldiers suffered from tuberculosis and malnutritiondespite receiving better supplies than other units.
As explained by the specialist in military affairs JB ParkKim Jong-Un may have initially sent less experienced soldiers to “test the waters” in Ukraine and open the way for the more experienced.
After a first wave of 1,500 special forces was seen entering eastern Russia, reports from Washington and Kiev estimated that around 11,000 soldiers North Koreans were “offered” to Vladimir Putin to help in the war ongoing with Ukraine. Among them, around 8,000 soldiers were sent to the Kursk region, near the Ukrainian border.
North Korea plans to send up to four brigades to Russia — about 12,000 non-total elite troops.
The South Korean Ministry of Defense estimates that the Storm Corps will consist of around 200,000 members — a surprisingly high number for a special forces unit.
Ukraine said North Korean troops have already engaged in combat, including an artillery strike in the Kursk region.
Andrii Kovalenkohead of the Center for Combating Disinformation in Ukraine, said that it was “a normal combat” and highlighted that North Korean soldiers are being trained to operate attack and reconnaissance drones.
Meanwhile, one of the first consequences of the North Korean soldiers’ new life in Europe was that they had unprecedented and unlimited access to the Western Internet. The result? .
Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the war in Ukraine, ongoing since February 2022, has raised concerns about an escalation of the conflict on a global scale.
In response, South Korea is reconsidering its ban on exporting weapons to Ukraine, a significant policy change that could also impact the dynamics of the war.
