North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow in Russia’s Kursk region have been allocated their own land on which to attack. Unlike their Russian counterparts, they advance with few armored vehicles to support them.
Ukrainian soldiers and U.S. officials say Russian troops do not pause during attacks to regroup or retreat, as they often do when they start suffering heavy losses. Instead, they will send more than 40 troops through mine-strewn fields and under heavy artillery fire.
Even if they get a position, they don’t try to secure it. They leave it to Russian reinforcements, while they retreat and prepare for another attack.
They also developed unique tactics and habits. When fighting drones, North Korea sends one soldier as a decoy so that other soldiers can shoot down the drone. If they are seriously injured, they are instructed to place the grenade under their neck to avoid being captured alive, hold the pin with one hand, and detonate the grenade as Ukrainian soldiers approach.
The North Koreans sent to Russia to join Moscow’s forces in Kursk essentially operate as a separate fighting force, with different languages, training and military cultures, Ukrainian military and U.S. officials say. said.
“This is partly due to two different armies that have never trained or operated together, and partly due to Russia’s military culture, which does not have much respect for the capabilities, norms and operations of its partner forces. I think that’s what it means,” Celeste A. Wallander said. , until Inauguration Day, served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs at the Department of Defense.
He said most of the North Korean military is special operations forces trained for surgical strike missions, while the Russian military essentially uses them as infantry.
Last fall, North Korea dispatched about 11,000 soldiers to support Moscow’s military in the Kursk region of southern Russia, where Ukrainian forces invaded and occupied territory last summer. Ukrainian and U.S. officials say about a third of North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded since the first fighting in early December.
Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, General Oleksandr Shirsky, said this week that North Korea’s losses continue to mount, estimating that nearly half of the troops sent are wounded or killed, but that they are “demoralized.” tall, well-trained” and “brave.”
A senior US defense official said the reinforcements were expected “within the next two months.”
The New York Times interviewed more than a dozen Ukrainian soldiers and commanders, as well as four U.S. defense officials and military analysts, who are involved in direct combat with North Korean soldiers, in order to summarize how North Korea would behave on the battlefield. I heard the story. The newspaper also viewed footage of the North Korean attack provided by the Ukrainian military.
American officials requested anonymity to speak candidly about battlefield details. Ukrainian soldiers and their commanders asked to be identified only by their first names in accordance with military protocol.
North Korea’s 1.2 million-strong military ranks among the world’s largest standing armies, and its entry marks a serious escalation in the war, which is now in its fourth year.
Even before sending troops to Russia, North Korea was a major supporter of Russia’s war effort. Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials say Russia is sending Russia millions of artillery shells (currently accounting for about half of Russian munitions launched daily) and more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles. .
kremlin refused to introduce North Korean soldiers are on the battlefield and taking steps to conceal their involvement, officials said.
For example, it is issuing what one Pentagon official described as “pocket trash” to North Koreans, documents that register them as originating from Russia’s Far East.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said one of the captured soldiers was found to have a military ID in the name of a resident of Tuva in southern Siberia. Ukrainian intelligence officials say the fake identities used data from real Russian citizens.
Ukraine’s claims about attempts to cover up North Korea’s participation could not be independently verified.
While North Korean soldiers provide additional manpower, the Russians have struggled to integrate them into the battlefield.
U.S. officials and Ukrainian soldiers say the problems range from small problems like finding uniforms that are the right size for North Korean soldiers to communication issues that led to direct clashes between North Korean and Russian forces due to misidentification on at least two occasions. The problems are wide-ranging.
Ukrainian soldiers say Russia is taking steps to address the problem, but a more cohesive fighting force has not yet been formed.
“Now they are starting to create groups that include translators and people who speak Russian on the radio, but these groups are not very effective,” said Andriy, the Ukrainian military commander.
Andriy used drone camera footage to describe the immediate aftermath of the assault earlier this month, providing a glimpse into North Korea’s tactics.
In thermal images, North Korean soldiers stood out like tiny black dots in a snow-covered field. They walked about eight miles, many dying along the way, and were huddled in trees in preparation for an attack on Ukrainian trenches a short distance away.
“There are about 50 people here,” Andriy said.
There were some injured in the video, but they did not retreat. They waited for reinforcements before attacking. The assault group consisted of five to eight soldiers.
Andriy said North Korea has suffered heavy casualties but continues to send new troops.
“Just keep going, keep going,” he said. “It’s motivation, command and strict discipline.”
The “assault brigade” tactic of soldiers advancing with little regard for the mayhem that awaits them features heavily in North Korean military training and propaganda. South Korean intelligence officials say this strategy has been used since the Korean War, and resulted in many casualties in wars fought using unmanned aircraft in open areas. But they said North Korea would view these losses as a necessary cost to become more proficient in modern warfare.
“I feel like they came here specifically to die, and they themselves know it,” said platoon commander Oleksi.
Ukrainian intelligence officials said two North Korean soldiers captured on January 9 also provided information about developments in Kursk. Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces also released a number of excerpts of diaries and communications collected from the bodies of North Korean soldiers, which U.S. officials said appear to be authentic.
A North Korean soldier wrote in his diary that he was motivated to participate in the Russian battle to redeem himself from unspecified crimes.
“I wear the uniform of the revolution to protect the Commander-in-Chief,” he wrote. “I betrayed the party that trusted me and committed an act of ingratitude towards the commander-in-chief. It gave me a new start.”
It also includes practical details such as how to shoot down a drone.
“At the same time, the person feeding the drone will keep a distance of 7 meters, and the person shooting it will keep a distance of 10-12 meters. When the bait stops, the drone will also stop moving. At this moment, the criminal will attack the drone. I have eliminated it.”
North Korean tactics forced Ukrainians to adapt.
For example, drone operators said they typically target groups of North Koreans, not individual ones.
Also, given the density of North Korean attacks, the standard procedure of placing antipersonnel mines approximately 15 meters apart does not work well. According to the soldiers, they are currently trying to keep the distance between mines to within 5 meters.
Interestingly, Ukrainian soldiers said that the North Korean army is trying to remove the dead and wounded from the battlefield, which is different from the Russian army.
Andriy shared a video of the process taken with a drone. Several dead and wounded soldiers are shown being dragged out, either by their arms or on sleds, as other soldiers move into their positions.
According to Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the North Korean troops sent to Ukraine included about 500 officers and at least three generals.
U.S. defense officials said the generals were stationed at a command and control headquarters in Russia, where objectives would be determined.
Commanders will decide when artillery is needed and how long to wait before mobilizing ground forces, a senior US defense official said. They are in sync with troops in the field and try to reduce miscommunication by preventing troops from talking to their Russian counterparts.
Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk said North Korea’s tactics were costly but effective.
“South Korean forces are starting to push up the front lines, targeting weakly defended areas and depleting our forces,” said Oleksi, the platoon commander.
Fighting one of the world’s largest armies is difficult enough, but fighting two armies was “on the edge” of what was possible, he said.
Capturing the prisoners proved difficult because the North Koreans were trained not to be taken alive and were constantly monitored by Russian drone operators, soldiers said.
“When the Russians see Koreans captured, they use drones to deliver the finishing blow, killing both Koreans and our soldiers,” Oleksi said, noting that several members of his brigade have recently used this method. He added that someone had been killed.
Ukrainian soldiers said North Koreans should not be underestimated.
“They’re being tested, really tested,” said Andriy, the drone commander. They had no combat experience, but “now they’re here, they’ve got combat experience and they’re very strong,” he said.
Lyubov Sholdko Contributing reports from Ukraine, Choi Sang Hoon Contributed from Seoul.
