North Korean troops face heavy losses in Russian alliance
A thousand injured and a hundred dead – that is the current toll among Kim Jong Un's soldiers in the Kursk region. This is the price the North Korean regime is paying in hopes of obtaining missile technology from Russia, especially for use in medium and long-range ballistic missiles.
The data on North Korean losses was reported by South Korea's National Intelligence Service on 19 December, with Ukrainians releasing a film documenting the first North Korean soldier casualties three days earlier.
North Korean soldiers, after several months of adaptation and training, found themselves on the frontline in the Kursk region in November. They began operations in the areas of Plechowo, Worozhba, and Martinovka. Soldiers of the "Faust" unit of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces published a video showing the attack on North Korean soldiers and its effects. At least 33 of Kim Jong Un's soldiers were killed or wounded.
Attacks without support
They turned out to be a very easy target. In particular, they were unable to move in terrain dominated by visual reconnaissance assets. In most cases, they attacked in open fields, without any form of camouflage. On the snow, dressed in thick, dark green quilted jackets, they were visible from afar.
In addition, the uniforms, which conceptually originated from the 1950s, significantly hampered movement because when soaked, they became extremely heavy. This practically prevents any free movement. This was evident in the footage. The Koreans moved slowly like golems. They were unable to flee from kamikaze drones. Even attempts to shoot down attacking drones were a futile task. And this is not the only problem encountered by the new soldiers supporting Putin.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation, noted during the weekly conference that the tactical actions involved gathering citizens of North Korea into groups and driving them to attack in a narrow strip from several directions simultaneously.
Moreover, the Russians do not provide allies with support from combat vehicles and tanks. According to Kovalenko, they are even stingy with artillery fire support.
Kim's regime sent supposedly elite units to Russia. The collision between the actual battlefield and propaganda films for North Korean commanders is likely a considerable cognitive shock. To such an extent that both Russian and North Korean propaganda are trying to hide the losses.
Pyongyang claims that everything is going according to plan, while the Russians try to avoid news of the DPRK military’s failures and do everything to speak about their "successful actions," hiding the losses. There are even cases of brutally deforming the faces of the fallen to hinder identification. Ordinary Korean soldiers are paying a very high price for the rulers' interests. And these are clear – they covet technologies from the Kremlin.
Life for missiles
In October, the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, approved a strategic partnership agreement with North Korea. This will allow for expanded military cooperation between the two countries.
It elevates cooperation between the regimes to a higher level. Among other things, it includes a provision that if one side is attacked and goes to war, the other must "provide immediate military assistance if either faces armed aggression." The agreement was crafted for the war in Ukraine.
According to Kremlin narrative, the Russian Federation was attacked by Ukrainians, which allows Kim to send not only weapons and ammunition to the ally but also soldiers. Over 10,000 North Korean soldiers were sent for "training" to the Far Eastern regions of the Federation, and they are the ones now dying in the Kursk region.
The Moscow-Pyongyang agreement was merely a formal endorsement of what we had practically been dealing with for months. According to South Korean intelligence, since 2023, North Korea has sent over 6,700 containers of artillery ammunition and ballistic missiles to Russia. Just last year, Pyongyang supplied the ally with 3 million 152 mm shells and about half a million 122 mm shells.
During the latest UN Security Council debate, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield revealed that, along with this year's shipments, North Korea has delivered 6 million pieces of artillery ammunition and over 100 ballistic missiles to Russia.
Thomas-Greenfield also expressed concern about the possibility of Russia formally accepting North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
- Alarmingly, we assess that Russia may be close to accepting North Korea's nuclear weapons program, reversing Moscow's decadelong commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula - the American stated.
Kim Jong Un, by helping Putin, is not doing so for ideology. In return, Russia has agreed to supply his regime with energy and food. However, that is not the dictator's main goal.
He most desires advanced technologies, including those that would support North Korea's satellite programme and allow the enhancement of its medium and long-range ballistic missiles. North Korea's defence industry is extremely backward, partly due to international sanctions. Cooperation with Russia will allow it to develop.
