Photo: North Korean military
Russia uses North Korean troops as "cannon fodder" for the war in Ukraine, officials in Seoul said Thursday, condemning the deployment and warning that South Korea “will not sit idly by,” the Voice of America reports.
North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia to support the Kremlin's war against Ukraine, South Korean lawmakers said Wednesday, Oct. 23, following a briefing by the country's intelligence agency.
The figures provided by South Korean lawmakers are double the initial estimates.
The United States has also said it has the evidence.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Pyongyang had sent 3,000 troops, including special forces, to Russia's Far East for training and acclimatization at military bases and possibly for future combat operations.
South Korea also said it had used AI facial recognition technology to identify a delegation of several dozen North Korean officers who visited frontline areas of Ukraine to provide guidance on the North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missiles that Russia is using against Ukraine.
The delegation included a key figure in missile development, identified by analysts at Seoul-based NK PRO as Ri Song-jin, who was photographed accompanying leader Kim Jong-un to missile factories last year.
Russian Pacific Fleet vessels were spotted transporting North Korean special forces to Vladivostok between October 8 and 13. They are expected to resume the transport soon, NIS reports.
According to NIS, the servicemen were provided with Russian military uniforms, weapons and fake documents before being sent to the front.
Each soldier will reportedly be paid $2,000 a month – more than the average North Korean earns in a year – and Russia is hiring translators to train recruits to use drones and other high-tech equipment.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has said that Russia is using soldiers as “cannon fodder.”
“North Korean special forces are trained to “deploy deep into enemy territory,” Lim Yul-chol, a professor at the Seoul Institute of Far Eastern Studies, told France Presse. “Their goal is usually to infiltrate the rear, strike key targets and carry out sabotage.”
However, Ukrainian media reports that some troops will be sent to the Kursk region.
“Most likely, their role will be to undermine and isolate Ukrainian troops from the rear and provide some support to the Russian military,” Lim explains.
Since the Kursk region is Russian territory, “Kim Jong-un can justify sending troops there by saying that he is helping Russia repel Ukrainian “aggression.”, Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told France Presse. This would be in line with the “letter of their agreement” signed in June by Kim and Putin.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Russia is currently suffering from an acute shortage of personnel at the front, Tikhonov said, and the arrival of North Korean soldiers “solves the problem.”
The North Korean military could take over logistical tasks, “which would allow Russian troops who were previously involved in logistics to be sent to the front lines,” he added.
In addition, “Russia may be trying to understand how a third party's involvement could affect the situation in Ukraine” more broadly, said Lee Dong-gyu, a research fellow at the Asan Institute.
That would allow Moscow to “assess how NATO or the international community would react” to other players entering the fray, he said.
Pyongyang could benefit from arms and troops supplied by the new war experience, analysts say.
Pyongyang, which is under heavy sanctions for its nuclear weapons program, appears to be receiving significant amounts of oil and other supplies from Russia, according to foreign intelligence agencies and analysts who have studied satellite images.
A report by a think tank affiliated with South Korea's NIS estimated that North Korea earned about $540 million from arms sales to Russia last year.
Seoul has said it is considering a phased response, including possibly changing its opposition to directly providing arms to Ukraine.
Former national security official Choi Gil-il told France Presse that this was a strong possibility.
“The government has apparently decided to promise Kyiv military support,” he said. “The only question is when this promise will become official.”
Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Defense Industry Research Association told France Presse that the decision to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons might be “too radical” for Seoul.
However, South Korea could provide more “defensive weapons – such as surface-to-air missiles to intercept incoming missiles or drones,” the expert said, especially since Seoul has a large stockpile of such weapons ready for immediate use.
Sending lethal weapons to Kyiv would be welcomed by the United States, but it would “destroy” South Korea's ties with Russia, North Korea expert Choi Jin-wook told France Presse.
Ukraine has already released a video message to North Korean soldiers saying they will receive food, shelter and medical care if they surrender.
Pak Chun-kwon, a former North Korean defector and now South Korean lawmaker, says Seoul should “consider providing Ukraine with loudspeakers to use against North Korean troops.”
The South Korean military has been broadcasting foreign news and K-pop music along the border with North Korea for years.
“The best outcome we can hope for is for the entire North Korean army to defect,” Park told reporters.
By Sergey Daga