Fighting on Russia’s side, the North Koreans waged their own war

Special areas have been designated for North Korean soldiers fighting for Moscow in Russia’s Kursk attack zone. Unlike their Russian counterparts, they advance with almost no armored vehicles.

When they attack, they do not stop to regroup or retreat, as the Russians often do when they begin to suffer heavy casualties, Ukrainian soldiers and American officials say. Instead, they move under heavy fire across mine-strewn fields and will send in a wave of 40 or more soldiers.

If they seize a position, they do not try to secure it. They leave that to Russian reinforcements, while they retreat and prepare for another attack.

They have also developed unique tactics and customs. When combating a drone, the North Koreans send one soldier as a lure so that others can shoot it down. If they were seriously injured, they were instructed to detonate a grenade to avoid being captured alive, and to hold it under the neck with one hand on the pin as Ukrainian soldiers approached.

Ukrainian soldiers and American officials said the North Koreans, who were sent to Russia to join Russian forces in Kursk, operate essentially as a separate fighting force — distinguished by military language, training and culture.

“It’s partly two different militaries that have never trained or worked together, and partly, I think, the Russian military culture, which, so to speak, has very little respect for the capabilities, standards and operations of partner forces,” Celeste Vallander said. , who until Inauguration Day was Assistant Secretary of the Pentagon for International Security Affairs.

She added that the North Koreans are largely special operations forces trained to conduct surgical strike missions, but the Russians used them mainly as infantry soldiers.

Last fall, North Korea sent about 11,000 troops to help Russian forces in the Kursk region of southern Russia, where the Ukrainians seized territory in a surprise invasion last summer. Since their first combat engagement in early December, nearly a third of North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded, Ukrainian and American officials said.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s top military commander, said this week that North Korean casualties continue to rise, and he estimated that nearly half of those sent were either wounded or killed, but warned that they were “highly motivated, well-trained” and “courageous.” “

Reinforcements are expected to arrive “within the next couple of months,” according to a senior US defense official.

The New York Times spoke with dozens of Ukrainian soldiers and commanders engaged in direct combat with North Korean soldiers, as well as four American defense officials and military analysts, to build a picture of how the North Koreans operate on the battlefield. The Times also viewed video of North Korean assaults provided by the Ukrainian military.

American officials requested anonymity to speak frankly about battlefield details. The Ukrainian soldiers and their commanders asked to be identified by their first names only in accordance with military protocol.

North Korea’s 1.2 million-strong army ranks among the largest standing armies in the world, and its entry into the war marked a profound escalation in a war now approaching its fourth year.

Even before it sent troops to Russia, North Korea was a major supporter of the Russian war effort. It has sent Moscow millions of artillery shells — which now account for about half of Russia’s munitions fired daily — and more than 100 short-range ballistic missiles, according to Western and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Kremlin He denied publishing Officials said North Korean soldiers had arrived on the battlefield and were taking steps to conceal their involvement.

For example, the North Koreans obtained what one Pentagon official described as “pocket trash” — documents listing them as being from Russia’s Far East.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one of the captured soldiers was found carrying a military ID card in the name of a resident of Tuva, southern Siberia. Ukrainian intelligence officials said the fake identity used data from a real Russian citizen.

It was not possible to independently verify Ukrainian allegations about attempts to hide North Korea’s participation.

While North Korean soldiers provide additional manpower, the Russians struggle to integrate them onto the battlefield.

Difficulties ranged from simple problems, such as finding uniforms small enough to fit North Korean soldiers, to communication problems that at least twice led to North Korean and Russian forces clashing directly over mistaken identity, U.S. officials and Ukrainian soldiers said.

Ukrainian soldiers said the Russians are taking steps to address these issues, but have not yet formed a more cohesive fighting force.

“They have now started forming groups that include a translator or someone who speaks Russian on the radio, but these groups are not very effective,” said Andriy, the Ukrainian commander.

Using video from a drone camera, Andrei described the attack shortly after it occurred earlier this month, providing a window into North Korea’s tactics.

Through thermal imaging, the North Korean soldiers stood out as small dark spots in the snow-covered fields. They marched about five miles—killing several of them along the way—and were assembling in a line of trees for an attack on a Ukrainian trench a short distance away.

“There are about 50 of them here,” Andrei said.

The video showed that some of them were injured, but they did not retreat. They waited for reinforcements and then attacked. The attack groups consisted of five to eight soldiers.

Andrei said that the North Koreans are taking many casualties, but they continue to send new units.

“It’s just forward, forward,” he said. “It’s motivation, orders and strict discipline.”

The “shock brigade” tactic of soldiers advancing with little regard for the chaos that awaits them features heavily in North Korean military training and propaganda. This strategy, adopted since the days of the Korean War, has caused many casualties in a war fought on open, flat terrain with drones, according to South Korean intelligence officials. But they said North Korea would view those losses as a necessary cost of becoming more adept at modern warfare.

“It’s as if they came here specifically to die, and they know it themselves,” said Oleksiy, a platoon leader.

Ukrainian intelligence officials said two North Korean soldiers captured on January 9 were providing information about deployments to Kursk. Ukrainian special operations forces released excerpts from a number of notes and communications collected from the bodies of North Korean soldiers, which US officials said appeared to be authentic.

In one of his memoirs, a North Korean soldier wrote that he was motivated to join Russia’s fight to rid himself of an unspecified violation.

“I wear the uniform of the revolution to protect the supreme leader,” he wrote. “I betrayed the party that trusted me and committed acts ungrateful to the Supreme Leader. The sins I committed are unforgivable, but my country has given me a path to redemption and a new beginning in life.”

He also included practical details, such as how to shoot down a drone.

“At the same time, the person hunting the drone maintains a distance of 7 metres, while the one shooting remains at a distance of 10-12 metres. If the bait remains stationary, the drone will also stop moving. At this moment, the shooter eliminates the drone.

North Korean tactics have forced the Ukrainians to adapt.

For example, drone pilots said they generally do not target individuals from North Korea, but look for groups instead.

Given the intensity of North Korean attacks, the standard procedure of placing antipersonnel mines 15 meters apart does not work well. The soldiers said they were now trying to leave no more than five meters between the mines.

Interestingly, the Ukrainian soldiers said, the North Koreans try to remove their dead and wounded from the battlefield, which is different from the Russians.

Andrei shared a drone video of the operation, in which some dead and wounded soldiers were pulled out – pulled by their arms or loaded onto sleds – while others moved to the site.

North Korean forces deployed in Ukraine include about 500 officers and at least three generals, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

American defense officials said that the generals are stationed at the Russian command and control headquarters, and that is where targets are identified.

A senior US Defense Department official said that commanders decide when they need artillery and how long to wait before ground forces maneuver. They synchronize with forces in the field, so that the forces do not talk to their Russian counterparts, in an attempt to reduce misunderstanding.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Kursk said North Korean tactics were costly but effective.

“The Koreans started advancing on the front lines, targeting the least defended areas, wearing down our forces in this way,” said Oleksiy, the platoon commander.

He said fighting one of the largest armies in the world was difficult enough, but fighting two was “on the edge” of what was possible.

Capturing prisoners proved difficult because the North Koreans were trained not to capture them alive, and Russian drone operators were always watching, the soldiers said.

“If the Russians see captured Koreans, they use drones to eliminate them, killing both Koreans and our soldiers,” Oleksiy said, adding that some members of his battalion were recently killed in this way.

Ukrainian soldiers said the North Koreans should not be underestimated.

“They were tested, a real test,” said Andrey, the drone pilot. He said they had no combat experience, but “now here, they are gaining it, and they have become very strong.”

Lyubov Shlodko He contributed reporting from Ukraine and Choi Sang Hoon Contributed from Seoul.