North Korean soldiers in Russia: Cannon fodder for Kremlin aims
According to the BBC, 4,000 out of 11,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia have been killed, wounded, are missing, or captured. "They are cannon fodder, and the Russian officers care even less for them than they do for their own men," reports former British Army tank commander Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.
BBC reports indicate that North Korean soldiers in Russia are being sent to the front lines without proper training or protection. Former British Army tank commander Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon stresses that these are poorly trained units led by Russian officers they cannot understand.
- Quite frankly they don't stand a chance. They are being thrown into the meat grinder with little chance of survival. They are cannon fodder, and the Russian officers care even less for them than they do for their own men, he added.
Posthumous admission to the Workers' Party of Korea
The Radio Free Asia portal revealed that North Korean soldiers who died in Russia are posthumously admitted to the Workers' Party of Korea. Families are not informed about the circumstances of their deaths or their involvement in the war.
Membership in the Workers' Party of Korea is a special privilege that improves the social status of families, providing them access to better education, jobs, and housing. Posthumous membership is usually granted to those who fell in war, not to soldiers who died during peacetime duties.
Koreans in captivity. They shared everything
North Korean prisoners of war, interrogated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), confirmed information about their transfer to Russian territory and complete isolation from outside news.
- Communication between captured North Korean soldiers and SSU investigators continues. Intelligence data on the movement of such troops to Russian territory, their training and complete information isolation have been confirmed by the prisoners - wrote Zelenskyy on Telegram.
In the video attached to the post by the President of Ukraine, one of the North Korean prisoners testified that several soldiers from his country were trained to operate Russian weapons. According to him, he arrived in Russia by ship along with about a hundred compatriots, and then was transported by train to areas involved in the fighting. "Around 100 of us travelled on the ship, a Russian cargo ferry. There were only people onboard, no equipment. The same group of people on the ferry was also on the train," the North Korean recounted.
