SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean troops have entered the fight alongside Russian troops in the Kursk border region, successfully taking at least one objective against Ukrainian forces despite suffering heavy losses, according to multiple reports from the battlefield.
North Korean troops were first reported in Russia in October, but have not been confirmed to have taken party in major operations with their Russian allies until this weekend. On Monday, the Pentagon stated that North Korean troops had started combat operations and had suffered casualties, while the Kremlin declined to comment.
Indications from Ukraine range from situation reports to oversight drone footage of what are believed to be North Korean assault units in action to gruesome video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the combat’s aftermath.
Mr. Zelenskyy has posted a 31-second video montage on his X account, complete with English subtitles, that he claims show North Korean troops.
The sequence starts with an on-ground discussion among troops in a wintry landscape. Some, of Asian ethnicity, are wearing red armbands. A voice speaking Russian suggests that the Asian troops don masks. Another Russian voice replies, “Nobody knows they are here anyway.”
The clip then shows Asian troops, again with red insignia on their uniforms, lying in cover, “after storming Ukrainian positions” according to Mr. Zelenskyy’s video caption. The final part of the clip, again shot from above, shows a Russian soldier apparently setting fire to the head of another soldier’s corpse lying in the snow.
“Russians are trying … to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle,” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote in his commentary. “This is a demonstration of disrespect, which is currently prevalent in Russia, a disrespect to everything human.”
The Ukrainian leader did not reveal the source of his footage, it has not been geo-located by intelligence specialists, and The Washington Times cannot confirm its veracity.
Multiple Russians of Asian ethnicity have been identified in battle in Ukraine, including Buryats from the Russian Far East. However, except for Chechens, Moscow is not known to field ethnically segregated units.
It is also unclear why Russia would hide the presence of North Korean troops, but in their first operations, the North Koreans appear to have performed well.
Ukrainian media outlets reported over the weekend that North Korean troops, the first major overseas deployment authorized by North Korean President Kim Jong Un, reportedly capturing the village of Plekhove in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, territory held by Ukrainian forces since they carried out a surprise cross-border incursion this summer.
At a time when Russian troops are grinding forward in agonizingly slow “meat wave” assaults, North Korean troops stormed and took Plekhove in a single assault. Their advance took place over a minefield, and under fire from both drones and artillery. Despite the intense fire, which generated major casualties, reports suggest they took the objective.
A Ukrainian journalist filed a grim report. “It’s clear that the North Koreans will continue to fight in mass waves, disregarding losses. They will be used for large scale attacks and psychological pressure on the battlefield.”
An unidentified Ukrainian soldier called them “well-trained, motivated and disciplined personnel” who are “proficient with all types of Soviet-era weaponry.” He added, however, they were “demoralized by their losses,” and their coordination with Russian forces had been “horrible.”
Other sources on X show successful suicide drone attacks on troops – identified as North Koreans – maneuvering over snowfields in daylight. The source cites the Telegram channel of Ukraine’s 8th Special Operations Forces, which claims to have killed 50 North Koreans, and wounded 47. Still more drone footage, also unconfirmed, shows a successful strike by cluster munitions on what are said to be North Korean troops.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Kyiv’s Center for Countering Disinformation, questioned whether the North Korean tactics are sustainable.
“How long North Korea’s 11th Army Corps can sustain a strategy of attrition attacks is unclear,” he told the publication Ukraine Today. “The corps may have buried or hospitalized one out of every 25 soldiers under its command this past weekend alone.”
The 11th Corps, or “Storm Corps” is the command structure for North Korea’s special forces brigades — light infantry, airborne and amphibious. Kyiv’s Center for Defense Strategies said on Dec.15 that the units involved in the assault on Plekhove were the North Korean 92nd and 94th Special Force Brigades.
Yang Uk, a security specialist at Seoul’s Asan Institute, questioned whether the 12,000-man, four-brigade expeditionary force Mr. Kim is believed to have sent to Russia consists entirely of these elite troops, or includes regular infantry brigades.
Regardless, the expeditionary force seems sustainable, given the size of North Korea’s armed forces: approximately 1.1 million troops.
South Korean military experts have also told Washington Times that North Koreans have high casualty tolerance, and can maintain their battle cohesion. Pointing to the high prestige awarded to military leaders in North Korea, they cite likely compensation that they and/or their families will receive if killed or wounded fighting for Russia.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.