Indoctrinated and loyal: do not underestimate North Korean soldiers in Russia

Von WOM

Seoul, South Korea/Hong Kong - around 11,000 North Korean soldiers are in the middle of the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, far from their home countries in one of the most isolated and mysterious states in the world.

unclear mission of the North Korean troops

Little is known about the North Korean troops, which are used to support Russia in the devastating war in Ukraine. Her tasks are unclear and her presence was not officially confirmed by Moscow or Pyongyang. According to information from US, Ukrainian and South Korean secret services, the North Koreans have already participated in combat operations. You can join a Russian troops from tens of thousands, an attack on Ukrainian Positions in the western conduct kursk

losses and tactics

According to the Ukraine, at least 30 North Korean soldiers Border killed or wounded. A Ukrainian unit reported that North Koreans - dressed in different uniforms than the Russians - had carried out infantry attacks with "the same tactics as 70 years ago", which obviously alludes to the Korean War, in which waves of infantry players were used.

challenges and expert estimates

The soldiers from Pyongyang have no real combat experience and have to prove themselves in a brutal modern theater of war - an environment that has brought chaos and horror for both sides. Nevertheless, some analysts have warned against underestimating the North Koreans. According to the former South Korean lieutenant General Chun In-Bum, Kim Jong Un "Die Best" will send from an elite unit of highly trained and "indoctrinated" soldiers, the Storm Corps. Some of these soldiers are special units, comparable to the US Navy Seals or the British SAS, while other light infantry and snipers are.

propaganda and psychological preparation

The North Korean propaganda has published material this year that shows KIM in special training units that are characterized by extreme strengths, such as breaking cement blocks over the muscular upper bodies of soldiers. Michael Madden, a non-resident Fellow in the 38 North program at the Stimson Center in Washington, noticed that this greatest posting North Korean soldiers has been equipped with "certain psychological tricks" since the Vietnam War to survive. "These boys are programmed. These boys are indoctrinated," he said. "But the question is how well indoctrinated? How well programmed are they?"

The reality of the war deployment

The mental strength could not be enough to overcome the worst challenges that the North Korean soldiers could face. The drone war has changed the battlefield in Ukraine and brings new levels of surveillance and destruction of military goals, but also from civilists and civilian infrastructure . Some Russian tactics act like "meat grinding" strategies that are particularly ground in the east of Ukraine.

training and integration into the Russian army

The possibility that North Korean soldiers have fallen with US weapons must not be neglected. The White House said that "the troops are a legitimate goal". South Korean MPs report that Russia 100 Military terms brings. In Russia, the training also consisted of artillery, the operation of unmanned aircraft and basic infantry operations, including rifle gravity. According to the US State Department, these are decisive skills for use on the front.

everyday challenges for North Korean soldiers

North Korea is one of the most militarized nations in the world with an estimated 1.2 million members of the armed forces, So the CIA World Factbook , and all citizens have to do military service from the age of 17. This usually takes 10 years, with the latest assessments indicate that North Korea has shortened the time to half. While North Korean special units are likely to be treated prioritized in terms of food and clothing, regular soldiers in the past difficult difficulties .

memories of malnutrition and health states

Kim Seong-Han, an exile who lives in the south, remembers his 12 years in the North Korean army as a time with little food, poor treatment and cruel winter marches without sleep. He joined the army in 1989 as a soldier in Kaesong and served during the catastrophic North Korean famine in the 1990s, which cost millions of people. "Before 1991 we could still eat meat, but from this year there was hardly any meat," said Kim under the protection of a pseudonym.

dangers in training

malnutrition was widespread among his comrades. During the training, accidents occurred regularly, "like failed shots, soldiers who accidentally ignited grenades, and other weapons damage," said Kim Seong-Han. "An example of our training would be a winter march - 150 kilometers over three days without sleep."

A look at life after the military

Kim Seong-Han fled to South Korea in 2017. Although his experience in the North Korean army was more than two decades ago, it offers insights into a world that is rarely understood by outsiders. Recent reports on life as a North Korean soldier also paint a dark picture. A soldier that was shot several times when overflowing by the heavily guarded demilitarized zone was with Worms and a chronic liver infection found. Some of the distant parasites were up to 27 centimeters long. "Everyone was hungry, even the soldiers," said another North Korean exile and former officer, Kang Ri Hyuk, at the time. "There are many soldiers who also die from diseases because they do not receive medical treatment."