North Korean soldier in Pyongyang, pensive, smoking a cigarette.
Soldiers sent by Pyongyang to help Russian troops are faced with a different reality than Kim Jong-un’s propaganda. Analysts believe that contact with foreign ideas could raise doubts about the regime.
North Korea’s decision to send troops to fight alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine reinforces Pyongyang’s decision with Moscow. On the other hand, thousands of North Korean soldiers leave the isolated country for the first time, coming into contact, as adults, with different ideas and lifestyles for the first time.
Although it is difficult to confirm the exact numbers, Western intelligence services say they have already been sent to Kursk, on the Russian border with Ukraine.
Even if they are traveling to a war zone, these soldiers are likely to observe the relative prosperity of Russian cities during the long journey between Russia’s eastern border in Asia and its western border in Europe. It is also possible that they will receive better food and wages than in your country of origin.
“Many of these soldiers are just humble country boys or junior officers who will see the world beyond North Korea’s borders for the first time. This will certainly make them realize that their country is isolated and extremely poor”, believes Andrei Lankov, Russian professor of history and international relations at Kookmin University, in Seoul, South Korea.
Lankov also states that “even though much of what they will see will be on the front lines, battle-damaged villages and so on, they will still be able to observe the Russian countryside before they get there. E, inevitably, they will begin to wonder why their country is not as developed as Russia“.
Return with restrictions
Those who survive the war will return home with a vision of the world that contradicts the regime’s propagandawhich insists that North Korea is one of the happiest and most advanced nations in the world.
However, analysts believe that these soldiers will avoid criticizingeven in front of family and friends. North Korean police are known for considering challenges to the regime or society as treason, imposing severe punishments.
“These soldiers they grew up knowing what they can’t say, and they won’t be suicidal heroesthey will not speak openly about their experiences”, analyzes Lankov, who believes that they “will also benefit from the aura of the nation’s heroes, and Kim Jong-un will reward them generously”.
“There will be an impact on these soldiers because of what they see and do in Russia, but this cannot be expected to be politically significant, at least for the next few decades,” he adds.
Further crackdown on foreign influence
For several decades, the North Korean government has worked to isolate its people from any foreign influence. And this campaign in recent years, with authorities cracking down hard on anyone caught with foreign films or music, handing out long prison sentences to citizens who try to flee to China.
Clothes or hairstyles are also used as a pretext to arrest people in the country.
In Russia, however, officials will not be able to keep North Korean soldiers completely protected from foreign influence — as we have already realized in recent days.
Like ZAP already, 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? .
“There are reports that North Korean soldiers were airlifted from training facilities in the Russian Far East and It’s possible they were transported like this simply so they wouldn’t see Russian cities from the trains as they crossed the country“, says Dan Pinkston, professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, adding that it is very likely that this will be the first time that many of them have traveled by plane.
“They can quickly realize how backward North Korea isalthough I imagine officers will try to keep the men separated from the population as much as possible to limit interactions,” he concludes.
Now generals, you can start a revolution
Considering the regime’s record regarding citizens who have been abroad, including workers sent to construction sites and logging camps in Russia or to restaurants and factories in China, it is also likely that upon returning to North Korea, soldiers will pass for one evaluation and re-education period.
According to Lankov, upon returning, soldiers must be “closely monitored”.
“This may be more difficult while they are in Russia experiencing battlefield conditions, but those who return will be aware that, if they talk about what they saw, it could be dangerous for them.” However, Lankov believes that the experience of life outside North Korea and “the evident prosperity” of other countries tends to be perpetuated within them.
“I don’t expect them to start a revolution right away, of course, but the captains now serving in Ukraine will become generals in a few years and will continue to have their doubts. Over time, these doubts about the North Korean system could become significant”, he concludes.
