Ukraine Says 10,000 North Korean Troops Coming to Fight for Russia

This article first appeared on Warrior Maven, a Military Content Group member website. 

There are multiple reports that North Korean troops are already in Russia, preparing to join Vladimir Putin’s forces in their fight against Ukraine.

Ukraine’s government has released a video that it says shows North Korean soldiers lining up to collect Russian military uniforms and other gear from Russian soldiers. According to CNN, that would seem to confirm a statement from South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), that 1,500 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia for training.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels that his intelligence sources say that 10,000 North Koreans are being readied for deployment to Russia.

“From our intelligence, we’ve got information that North Korea sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “They are preparing on their land 10,000 soldiers, but they didn’t move them already to Ukraine or Russia.”

Neither the US State Department nor NATO said they could confirm the Ukrainian claim. On Saturday in Naples, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said he couldn’t confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia – but he said that such a move would be concerning if it’s true.

North Korea is said to have the world’s fourth-largest military, with an estimated 1.3 million people in uniform and 600,000 in the reserves. Still, few of them have any combat experience.

Last summer, there was speculation that North Korea would send military engineering units to help Russia. Those forces could have a dual purpose – to rebuild areas destroyed by the war while also fortifying Russian-held positions.

Meanwhile, South Korean intelligence experts said earlier this year that Pyongyang was sending missiles, anti-tank rockets and artillery rounds to Russia. The Russians are believed to be acquiring 152mm artillery shells and rounds for 122mm multiple rocket launchers.

In May, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said that an analysis of debris imagery confirms that Russia has used North Korean missiles in Ukraine. An unclassified summary of the DIA report said that debris from North Korean solid-propellant short-range ballistic missiles had been discovered in the Kharkiv region in January.

That report underscored the widely-held belief that North Korea has become a lifeline for Russia in the war. While the bulk of the missiles Russia has fired at Ukraine comes from the country’s own factory, it’s clear that the Kremlin’s defense industry can’t supply Russian forces on its own.