North Korean troops bolster russian forces in Ukraine conflict

The Kremlin initially dismissed reports of North Korean troop deployments as "fake news." However, on October 24, Putin no longer denied the presence of North Korean troops in Russia and stated that it depends on Moscow how to implement the partnership agreement with Pyongyang.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated in an interview with South Korean TV station KBS that Kim Jong Un's soldiers have already been deployed to the front. They are reportedly wearing Russian uniforms and pretending to be Buryats, making it difficult to identify the DPRK military personnel.

Initially, there were reports that the Korean dictator had sent special forces to the Russian Federation. However, these are not special forces in the NATO sense; they are simply units better trained and equipped than regular units of the North Korean army. They are not even comparable to Russian guard units. Kim's regime has sent shooters to the front—light infantry without heavy equipment.

The main force of the North Korean military is the ground troops, comprising 950,000 soldiers, 5,545 tanks, about 2,500 infantry fighting vehicles, and roughly 15,000 artillery and rocket systems. On paper, this is quite a formidable force, but it is misleading as it does not reflect its actual combat capabilities.

The infantry's main equipment includes Kalashnikov rifles, such as the archaic Type 56, which has been produced without major changes since 1956. The same applies to their uniforms, which have not changed since the 1960s and do not meet modern battlefield requirements. The soldiers lack ballistic protection and still use wz.40 steel helmets, which are copies of the Soviet Ssh-40 helmet designed just before World War II. Kim Jong Un's forces also lack personal communication devices.

The situation is similar to that of infantry support weapons. Still in use are the Degtyaryov hand-held machine guns, whose production ended in the USSR in 1945, or local copies of Soviet PKMs. The heavy machine gun NSW is also still in use.

Tank and mechanized units are equally technologically outdated. The main type of tank is the Chonma-ho, in versions 1 to 3, of which the North Koreans have about 1,200. These are modelled after the Soviet T-62, whose production ended in the 1980s. This type of tank is still used by 18 countries, including the Russian Federation, which is pulling more units out of storage for use in Ukraine as infantry support vehicles. The Koreans still have about 1,000 original T-62s. The remaining tanks are T-72s or their local variants.

Even worse is the equipment of mechanized units, although North Korea only possesses trace amounts of these. They mainly have old Chinese VTT-323s and Soviet BMP-1s, which have not been modernized and offer a level of passive protection equivalent to the end of the Cold War, lacking any active protection.

The artillery also stopped developing at the level of the 1970s. The main weapons are the M-20 howitzer from the 1930s and the slightly newer D-74 from two decades later, produced in North Korea under license.

The self-propelled artillery is the "oasis" of modernity, although the M-1991 and M-1992 models are simply old howitzers mounted on tracked chassis, often artillery tractors from the 1950s and 1960s. The relatively modern Juche 107, whose carrier is based on T-72 tanks, is also in use.

Due to their allies' equipment, the Russians decided it would be easier to deploy them to the front and equip them with Russian resources rather than bring outdated and worn-out equipment from thousands of kilometres away. North Korean infantrymen received Russian uniforms and personal soldier gear, making them appear as Russian motorized riflemen.

Putin's new soldiers received the latest Kalashnikov factory AK-12 rifles, which have been produced for only a decade. Snipers received semi-automatic sniper rifles SWCh, which entered service a year ago, as well as PKM machine guns, familiar to North Koreans. As something new to them, they received 9K111 Fagot anti-tank guided missiles.

The Koreans have sent their best units to Russia, although physically, they differ significantly from their southern neighbours and even from citizens of the Federation from the poorest Caucasian republics. Years of malnutrition and very poor healthcare have resulted in an average height in North Korea of only 165 cm and a weight of about 48 kg. Meanwhile, the average height of men in the southern part of the peninsula is about 175 cm, and they have an average weight of 70 kg.

In published photos from exercises in the Far East, small, thin soldiers can be seen in oversized Russian uniforms. They are not precisely military elites, but somewhat akin to the cannon fodder the Kremlin has been sending to the front for months. Apparently, little has changed in Kim Jong Un's state, where military nutrition is better than that of civilians.

Observations of the South Korean army also indicate that only a small group of Northern soldiers are prepared for combat operations. The rest are mainly ceremonial soldiers, intended to look good on parade grounds, marching before the grandstand.