The planned and controversial Russian mobilization planned by President Putin may not be as large as thought after all.
The North Korean military is rumored to be sending an additional 30,000 troops to bolster the flagging Russian forces in Ukraine.
Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The South China Morning Post wrote that in addition to the 30,000 troops, Pyongyang is also sending additional missile launchers to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The SCMP quoted a focused political scientist and senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Oh Gyeong-seob, who stated, “This is quite a plausible claim.
“It would be a win-win deal for both countries,” he said.
North Korea Will Stand With Russia “Until Victory Is Achieved”
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Moscow.
Choe pledged that Pyongyang “will stand by Moscow until victory is achieved in the Ukraine war”, and in return, Russia offered “full support” for North Korea’s national security.
General Secretary Kim Jong Un had called from the very beginning for North Korea to “consistently and resolutely support and assist the Russian army and the Russian people in their sacred war, without regard for anyone else,” she reportedly said.
North Korean Troops Suffered Terrible Losses In 2024
Under a mutual defense pact between the two countries, North Korea sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk. Those troops have suffered horrendous casualties.
An estimated 2,300 to 6,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded while fighting for Russia, primarily in the Kursk border region, according to various international intelligence and physical estimates.
A recent BBC investigation analyzing satellite imagery and official state media photos of Pyongyang’s newly constructed Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at Overseas Military Operations revealed approximately 2,304 names engraved onto the facility’s memorial walls.
A “Steady Stream Of Cheap Frontline Troops”
In his assessment, Oh stated that a steady stream of cheap frontline troops from North Korea offered Russia “a cost-effective way to recruit soldiers,” Oh said, “while Pyongyang receives money and military technology in return.”
Reports indicate that Russia has deployed North Korean troops to the Kursk region, where officials from Ukraine and South Korea state they have been used in high-risk frontal assaults and mine-clearing operations akin to “cannon fodder.”
However, frontline accounts also highlight their high physical endurance and rigid indoctrination. “They are young, motivated, physically fit, brave, and good at using small arms.
They are also disciplined. They have everything you need for a good infantryman,” Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Chepurnyi, a spokesman of the Ukrainian army, said.
Zelenskyy Says Russia Is Preparing For 30,000 North Koreans
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that preparations had been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive another 30,000 North Korean troops.
“We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea.
Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops,” Zelenskyy said in a video address. “Preparations have been under way in Russia’s Voronezh region since June to receive them.”
Zelenskyy added that North Korea was preparing to supply Russia with new launchers for ballistic missiles.
“This is a threat not only to Ukraine. Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons and gain real combat experience in using them,” he said.
“All of this poses a threat to every country in Asia that lies within range of North Korean missiles.”
Putin is, he wrote, “preparing the conditions for expanding mobilization.”
The Addition Of 30,000 More Troops Is a Major Escalation
Regardless of whether Putin goes through with his planned 300,000-500,000 troop mobilization, the influx of 30,000 more North Koreans to the battlefield, which is more than double the 14,000 troops already, carries severe military, geopolitical, and security implications.
This is a dramatic escalation of North Korea’s involvement in the war.
Tens of thousands of fresh foreign troops provide Moscow with the manpower needed to sustain large-scale ground offensives in occupied Ukrainian territories without triggering a domestic political backlash via a new mass mobilization.
By adding this many combat troops, which further internationalizes the war, it puts pressure on NATO and Western Europe to re-evaluate the limits of their support and intervention framework for the Ukrainians.
But this also has implications for the Korean peninsula.
There are reports that Russia has sent troops to North Korea to train the North Korean military on how to use combat drones and air-defense systems, but also to help set up in North Korea the production of Russian variants of the Iranian-developed Shahed/Geran attack drones.
U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson said in an interview earlier this year that, given North Korea’s increasing involvement in the war in Ukraine, they are gaining valuable combat experience.
This has also changed the U.S. and allied threat calculus on the Korean Peninsula “in fundamental ways” as North Korea crafts a new playbook based on what it has learned during the Ukraine war, he said.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
