North Korean tactics meet modern warfare challenges in Russia
North Korean soldiers are using Soviet tactics, which are outdated in modern warfare, reported the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the North Koreans might pose a problem because they are "massed and motivated."
According to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, soldiers from North Korea are employing tactics from the Soviet era.
Syrskyi explained that their tactics are rooted in Soviet-era strategies, involving attacks in platoons and companies with large numbers of soldiers. He noted that modern warfare has evolved, favouring smaller groups for both offensive and defensive operations, particularly with the widespread use of drones. When a platoon, sometimes comprising up to a hundred soldiers, launches attacks from multiple directions, it can pose a significant challenge despite their bravery. He also pointed out that North Korean soldiers are facing ammunition shortages.
Syrskyi reported that between 11,000 and 12,000 well-motivated and trained soldiers from North Korea were sent to help Russia in the war against Ukraine. However, half of them have already been wounded or killed in action.
Bleak outlook for North Korean soldiers in Russia
According to a report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the entire North Korean contingent of approximately 12,000 soldiers currently located in the Kursk region could be killed or wounded in battles by mid-April 2025 if the current high level of losses in the North Korean forces continues.
Ukraine's Defence Minister, Rustem Umerov, on 5 November 2024, reported that the North Korean forces participated in "small-scale" skirmishes in the Kursk region. At the beginning of January, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 3,800 soldiers from North Korea had been killed or wounded in the Kursk region.
This suggests that North Korea has been experiencing an average of 92 losses per day since the beginning of significant combat operations in early December 2024. If, as indicated, North Korea transferred approximately 12,000 soldiers to the Kursk region, the entire contingent could be killed or wounded within about 12 weeks (by mid-April 2025) if the rate of losses among North Korean forces remains similarly high.
Previously, South Korea's National Intelligence Service reported that currently, 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded in battles in the Kursk region.
