10,000 North Korean troops move to Russian front line, South's military says

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10,000 North Korean troops move to Russian front line, South's military says

Published: 05 Nov. 2024, 16:03 Updated: 05 Nov. 2024, 19:29

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Jonas Ohman, founder of pro-Ukrainian NGO Blue/Yellow, left, holds up a Russian military uniform, and a mannequin wearing a uniform presumed to be similar to those worn by North Korean soldiers deployed to Kursk. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

More than 10,000 North Korean troops deployed to Russia have moved to the front lines of Moscow’s war against Kyiv, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

“South Korean and U.S. military intelligence agencies have determined that over 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, and many of them have moved to the front lines, including to Kursk,” said Defense Ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu in a regular briefing Tuesday, referring to the western region in Russia where Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive.

Although recent domestic news reports have cited anonymous government officials who said that around 40 North Koreans deployed to the front lines have killed, Jeon said he could “confirm nothing at this time.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed at a briefing on Monday that the United States “now estimates that 10,000 troops have gone to the area.”

When asked whether North Korean troops were already engaged in combat at Kursk, Miller said, “I have seen media reports that they are fighting,” but added, “I can’t say anything definitive about that.”

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Monday that it had obtained a photo of a body believed to be that of a dead North Korean soldier killed in fighting between Ukraine and Russia on Oct. 25.

Jonas Ohman, founder of pro-Ukrainian NGO Blue/Yellow, told RFA in an interview on Sunday that Ukrainian military entered the Russian front and attacked, resulting in the Russian military accidentally firing shells on their own troops.

He said Ukrainian and Russian troops suffered casualties, and North Korean soldiers appeared to be among the dead, judging from drone footage provided by the Ukrainian military showing a North Korean flag attached to a military cap.

Ohman reportedly showed RFA a photo taken by the drone on the condition that it not be released to the public. RFA reported that they were able to identify the body of a deceased soldier wearing a military cap with a North Korean flag attached but that the face was not identifiable.

At first, the Ukrainians believed the dead were Russian soldiers, but when the drone flew by, they confirmed they were North Korean, said Ohman. The Ukrainians estimated that about 10 North Korean soldiers were killed, he said, but determining the exact number was difficult.

Ohman also added that one of the soldiers wearing a cap with a North Korean flag attached survived, but added the Ukrainian military was unable to capture him as a prisoner.

Ohman said although there was no way to verify whether the soldiers in question were North Korean, circumstances suggested they were.

The North Korean soldiers captured in the drone footage were wearing uniforms with a similar pattern to the Russian military, but the colors were slightly different, he said, consistent with information that the North Korean military could receive uniforms of a different color from Russian military uniforms.

He further claimed that North Korean soldiers were trained with local forces in Belarus, including the 103rd Belarus Vitebsk Airborne Brigade, and that the soldiers were sent to facilities in Minsk as “students.”

Citing information from Ukrainian intelligence, Ohman reported that North Korean soldiers were currently deployed to the 155th and 810th Marine Brigades, the 11th and 56th Airborne Brigades and the 106th Division of the Russian Marine Corps.

These soldiers would likely be deployed soon, as the Russian leadership aims to recapture the Kursk region — which is currently under Ukrainian control — within two or three months, said Ohman.

Ohman said North Korean soldiers were likely to be used in human wave tactics, which involve sending a large number of troops forward at once. Russia is using the North Koreans to weaken Ukraine’s defenses by causing massive casualties while protecting Russia’s elite troops, he said.

Blue/Yellow previously reported that North Korean troops clashed with Ukrainians in the Kursk region on Oct. 25 and that all but one North Korean died in the engagement.

Regarding the situation in Ukraine and the involvement of North Korean troops in frontline fighting, South Korea’s presidential office said Tuesday that Seoul needs to respond to these developments.

“There are reports that North Korean casualties have occurred,” a presidential official said Tuesday. “The war in Ukraine will also affect the U.S. presidential election and, in turn, may affect the situation on the Korean Peninsula.”

BY BAE JAE-SUNG,LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]