Up to 12,000 North Korean Troops Transferred to Russia, Satellite Images Show

The alleged transfer of up to 12,000 North Korean military personnel to Russia, including 1,500 special forces already deployed in Vladivostok, is being monitored through satellite imagery, according to Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

He emphasized that South Korean intelligence, alongside Ukrainian intelligence, is actively tracking these developments.

Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) provided evidence on Friday of what it said were North Korean troops’ deployments to Russia before participating in the war in Ukraine, including a series of satellite images of troop concentration. 

NIS’s Friday press release detailed the agency’s findings on Pyongyang’s troop movements, which said those deployed to Russia consisted of “1,500 North Korean special forces from the areas near Chongjin, Hamhung, and Musudan” of the country.

It said they were transported by “four landing ships and three escort ships belonging to the Russian Pacific Fleet” between Oct. 8 and Oct. 13. 

NIS said that “this is the first time that the Russian Navy has entered North Korean waters since 1990” and added that another round of troop transportation, presumably by similar means, is scheduled. 

The agency said the North Korean troops were dispersed in multiple bases in Russia’s Far East and claimed that they were issued “fake ID cards of residents of the Yakutia and Buryatia regions of Siberia” on top of Russian uniforms and weapons in a bid to conceal their identity. 

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The claim corroborated earlier assertions by Ukrainian defense intelligence (HUR) that a “Special Buryat Battalion” was created in Russia to incorporate the Pyongyang troops.

“The North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia are currently stationed at Russian military bases in the Far East, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Blagoveshchensk, and are expected to be deployed to the front lines as soon as they complete their adaptation training,” read the press release. 

Two footages, which appeared late evening on Friday, Oct. 18, showed North Korean soldiers being equipped with Russian uniforms at the Sergiev training ground in Russia. Kyiv Post sources have confirmed that Korean was spoken in two separate videos.

Both videos began circulating on Friday evening. One was taken in an open field, where troops could be seen running on a dirt path in formation, while another depicted troops picking up supplies in a room, ostensibly before their combat deployment. 

In the first video, a Russian soldier in uniform – with an insignia on his shoulder – commented on the troops marching before him and called them foreign reinforcements, claiming that “millions” of them would come to reinforce the troops.

In another video, troops of Asian appearance with Russian uniforms could be seen queuing up for equipment, with more audible speeches available that are confirmed to be Korean.