Can North Korea’s Elite Soldiers Save Russia in Battle for Kursk?

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to send North Korean troops to help reclaim parts of the country’s Kursk region under Ukrainian control, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Thursday.

North Korea would send 12,000 soldiers to Russia to assist in reclaiming sections of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces have controlled since August. However, Ukrainian analysts stated that these forces were too small to dramatically change the course of the war, according to the FT. 

To displace Ukrainian forces, the analysts said Moscow would need to double its contingent of 50,000 troops and conduct a new mobilization.

Jack Watling, a senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, told the FT that North Korean troops could pose certain challenges for Ukraine due to their cohesion and motivation, which surpass the current dwindling morale of Russian soldiers.

According to US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has already sent 3,000 of his soldiers to augment the Russian military. 

The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) said these soldiers are receiving training at Russian military bases, where they have been issued Russian uniforms and fake documents identifying them as Buryats and Yakuts, two of Russia’s Asian ethnic minorities in Siberia.

While the Kremlin has been trying to recruit people from developing nations like Cuba, Nepal, Yemen, Sri Lanka and India to join the war, the entry of regular North Korean troops would mark the first official foreign troop deployment fighting alongside Moscow troops in the war in Ukraine.

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Thousands of North Korean soldiers are believed to be fighting alongside Russian forces.

NIS also claimed these were not just ordinary soldiers but elite troops from North Korea’s 11th Army, known as the Storm Corps. These soldiers were said to be well-equipped and trained units of mobile light infantry, as opposed to regular troops who sometimes lack adequate combat training.

The British Ministry of Defence said in September that Russian casualties surpassed 610,000, with daily losses the same month averaging 1,271. It added that the number of recruits in Russia was likely lower than 1,000 per month. 

At the time, Putin also signed a decree to boost active troop numbers by 180,000, bringing the total to 1.5 million, though it was unclear how that would be achieved. 

North Korea is stepping in as Russia is grappling with heavy losses by providing the latter with personnel along with weapons and equipment, Kyiv Post sources in Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) said.

According to HUR, the North Koreans will form part of the “Special Buryat Battalion,” organized within the 11th separate airborne assault brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.

The battalion is expected to include up to 3,000 North Korean troops and is currently being supplied with small arms and ammunition.

The battalion could be deployed in the Kursk region near Sudzha and the city of Kursk, close to the Ukrainian border, though details surrounding the alleged deployments remain unclear.

HUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov in an interview with The Economist, said Russia has reached an agreement with North Korea under which Pyongyang will send its troops, including 500 officers and three generals, to support Russian forces. 

In return, Russia would provide Pyongyang with financial assistance and modern technology to help the country develop its nuclear program and expand its nuclear arsenal, Budanov said. 

Ukraine’s “I Want to Live” (Хочу жить) project, a surrender hotline operated by HUR, has called on North Korean soldiers sent to fight against Ukraine to surrender and avoid participating in combat operations.

Ukraine and South Korea both claimed in mid-October that Pyongyang had deployed troops to aid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, likely as a result of a June 18 mutual defense pact.

This is a developing story. Read more about North Korean troop deployments in Ukraine here.