Putin Wants 30,000 More North Korea People’s Army Soldiers Sent to Fight in Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that his intelligence services are telling him Moscow wants to bring 30,000 additional Korean People’s Army (KPA) troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) into the Ukraine war. These units, which would amount to a roughly three-division-sized expeditionary force that would fight alongside Russian units in Russia’s war against its neighbor.
“We also see Russia’s cooperation with North Korea. Russia wants to receive another 30,000 troops from North Korea,” Zelensky said in his nightly address Saturday evening. “Since June, preparations have been underway in Russia’s Voronezh region to receive them.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in Vladivostok, Russia April 25, 2019.
According to several previous estimates, Pyongyang already has transferred 12,000-20,000 troops to Russia’s Kursk border region, which were seconded to Russia’s military command under a mutual defense pact the North Korean nation signed with Moscow in 2024.
During the course of this four-and-a-half-year war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has become increasingly dependent on the DPRK to supply artillery shells and ballistic missiles. Even since the early days of the war, Russia’s consumption of these munitions has consistently been far in excess of its own production rates.
Transfer of Military Technology
But Moscow now bringing tens of thousands more DPRK troops is raising the specter of what – or rather how – Putin is going to pay the isolationist state’s ruler, Kim Jong Un, for all this badly-needed manpower. A good portion of the compensation for KPA soldiers sent to fight to date has been in the form of defense industrial technology rather than cash or commodities like oil and gas.
North Korean ICBM. Image Credit: KCNA/North Korean State Media.
This was a good part of the “payment” in return for the first tranche of 20,000 DPRK troops that were sent to Russia’s Kursk region in 2024 to beat back an incursion by Ukrainian forces. Some of the more notable technological know-how that has been provided to the KPA includes:
Nuclear Submarine Reactor Modules – Based on information from Intelligence sources, Moscow is said to have supplied two to three nuclear reactor submarine propulsion modules. These reportedly included a reactor, turbine, and cooling systems and had been removed from decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines before transfer to Pyongyang.
Air Defense Systems – Moscow has provided short-range air defense equipment, including the Pantsir S1-class of self-propelled combat vehicle systems. These platforms were supposedly acquired to allow Pyongyang to “upgrade” its layered defense network.
However, given the almost immeasurable paranoia of the Kim regime, the Pantsir may very well be employed for some of the same purposes that Putin has put them to use for in Russia. Meaning that they could very well be placed around Kim’s palatial residences to defend against any attacks by drones or – in the event of an internal rebellion – mutinous air crews.
Electronic Warfare Technology – EW is an area that Russia has invested in heavily. Moscow is reported to have provided the DPRK with advanced jamming systems. EW-resistant tactical radars and guidance data sharing capabilities have also been delivered to improve the DPRK’s missile and drone operations.
According to Ukrainian sources, other Russian military specialists are now in the DPRK to train the KPA in how to use combat drones and air-defense systems and to help set up production lines in North Korea for the Russian variants of the Iranian-designed Shahed/Geran attack drones.
A Threat To Everyone in Asia
There is a growing danger of collateral damage in Asia created by Moscow transferring its defense technological know-how to the regime in Pyongyang.
“Russia is helping North Korea learn how to wage war, improve its weapons, and gain real combat experience in using them,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “All of this is a threat to everyone in Asia who is within range of North Korean missiles. We [Ukraine] will counter this,” he said.
Zelensky’s announcement comes immediately following a four-day visit to Moscow by the DPRK’s top diplomat. That trip saw the North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
This kind of interaction taking place in such close proximity to the Russian request for more troops is seen as strong evidence that these transfers of defense technology were almost surely discussed between the two nations.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
