The soldiers Kim is sending to Russia are part of North Korea’s 11th Army, an elite unit known as the Storm Corps, South Korean service sources said. “These are not ordinary soldiers who have not undergone combat training,” said Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow at the South Korean State Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.
 North Korean troops are currently completing their final preparations before joining Russian forces in Ukraine. In any case, experts question how effective Kim Jong Un’s men will be on the front lines. The prestige of the Pyongyang leader actually depends, especially now, on the established military cooperation with Vladimir Putin, and therefore a possible failure of his soldiers on Ukrainian soil could damage his image. Hundreds of North Korean soldiers have been filmed at military bases in the Russian Far East, where they are preparing to take part in the war against Ukraine, Ukrainian, South Korean and Western media have claimed for weeks. Even the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, confirmed this. He added that the deployment of North Korean forces is a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “growing desperation”.
SENDING THE SOLDIERS
Kim Jong Un’s soldiers are disguised as Buryats and Yakuts and are sent to the front in civilian cars. These are minority peoples from Siberia who, by the way, sent a much larger share of soldiers to Putin’s war than their share of the population. North Korea is to be part of the forces that will fight in Russia’s Kursk region, which has been partially occupied by Ukraine since August, according to South Korean sources close to the secret service, writes the Financial Times. This group of soldiers will be the first foreign military deployed in the war since the Russian president launched a war in Ukraine in February 2022, but help from North Korea has come before, in the form of weapons, in response to Western support for Ukraine.
“STORM TROOPS”
The soldiers Kim is sending to Russia are part of North Korea’s 11th Army, an elite unit known as the Storm Corps, South Korean service sources said. “These are not ordinary soldiers who have not undergone combat training,” said Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow at the South Korean State Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul. “This is well-equipped, highly trained mobile light infantry,” he said. The reinforcements from North Korea come just as the Russians have struggled to push back the Ukrainian army in Kursk, reducing the occupied territory from 1,000 square kilometers in August to 700 square kilometers now after successful operations.
“SHOPPING”
The deployment of North Korean troops strengthens ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, which have been particularly close since the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The sources claim that Kim wanted to send troops to Ukraine from the start because he believes it would give him leverage over Putin and possibly give him access to Russian military technologies that would help him strengthen the military and weaponry. his. Moscow in turn will reward Kim with finance, food and fuel and thus further deepen their partnership, says Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.
SEOUL’S REVENGE
But at the same time, the threat could prompt South Korea to increase its support for Ukraine in retaliation. They have long resisted Western pleas to supply Ukraine with weapons for fear that Russia could provide Pyongyang with advanced technology, but with their northern neighbors making the first move, the world now expects South Korea to get involved. A South Korean government official announced that Seoul will consider sending defensive weapons to Kiev, and if the threshold is exceeded, offensive weapons may also be sent. South Korea is also likely to simultaneously increase covert diplomacy with China and Russia as North Korea’s most important partners.
