U.S., South Korea and Ukrainian intelligence officials said that North Korea participated in a major armed conflict for the first time last fall since the end of the Korean War in 1950-53, with North Korea sending about 10,000-12,000 soldiers to Russia. But North Korea did not confirm or deny its deployment to Russian troops until Monday.
North Korea announced the news after Russia’s top general said all Ukrainian troops were forced from part of Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian officials denied the claim.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un decided to send combat troops to Russia under a common defense treaty, the Central Military Commission of the North said in a statement in state media. Singed by King and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2024, the treaty requires both countries to use all available means to provide any attacks to provide immediate military assistance.
It quoted King as saying that the purpose of the deployment was to “annihilate and eliminate the neo-Nazi occupiers of Ukraine and to work with the Russian armed forces to liberate the Kursk region.”
The statement said: “Those who fight for justice are heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland.”
The monument will soon be established in Pyongyang to commemorate the feat of North Korea and lay flowers in front of the tombstones of the fallen soldiers, Kim said. King said the government must take measures to prioritize and care for the families of soldiers participating in the war.
The North Korean statement did not say how many troops North Korea eventually sent, and how many of them died. But in March, South Korean military said about 4,000 North Korean soldiers were killed or injured in the Russian-Ukrainian war front. South Korean military also assessed that North Korea sent about 3,000 troops to Russia earlier this year.
North Korean soldiers are well-trained and well-trained, but observers say they have become targets for drone and artillery attacks due to lack of combat experience and Russian-Ukrainian battlefields that are unfamiliar with the terrain. Nevertheless, Ukrainian military and intelligence officials assessed the key battlefield experience that the North Koreans gained and were key to Russia’s strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by putting a large number of soldiers into the Kursk battle.
At a meeting in the Kremlin on Saturday, Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov informed Putin that Russia would regain the Kursk region. Gerasimov also confirmed that North Korean soldiers fought the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region and “expressed a high degree of professionalism, showing perseverance, courage and heroism in the fight.”
Ukraine’s General Staff retorted that its defensive operations in certain areas of Kursk are still continuing.
In March, Kim expressed his firm support for Russia’s war in Ukraine during a meeting with Sergei Shoigu, Pyongyang’s top Russian security official. State media reported that Kim and Shagu reiterated their commitment to holding the Joint Defense Treaty. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Russian media that the government is discussing Kim’s visit to Moscow.
North Korea also provided Russia with a large number of conventional weapons. South Korea, the United States and its partners worry that Russia can reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technology that can significantly enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is also expected to receive economic and other aid from Russia.
