North Korean troops sent to Russia may be pleased to be there, even as they face ferocious fighting
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, are mostly elite special forces, but that hasn’t stopped speculation they’ll be slaughtered because they have no combat experience, no familiarity with the terrain and will likely be dropped onto the most ferocious battlefields.
That may be true, and soon. Observers say the troops are already arriving at the front. From the North Korean perspective, however, these soldiers might not be as miserable as outsiders think. They may, in fact, view their Russian tour with pride and as a rare chance to make good money, see a foreign country for the first time and win preferred treatment for their families back home, according to former North Korean soldiers.
“They are too young and won’t understand exactly what it means. They’ll just consider it an honor to be selected as the ones to go to Russia among the many North Korean soldiers,” said Lee Woong-gil, a former member of the same special forces unit, the Storm Corps. He came to South Korea in 2007. “But I think most of them won’t likely come back home alive.”
Worries about North Korea’s likely participation in the Russian-Ukraine war were highlighted this week when the Pentagon said North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia, and that they will likely fight against Ukraine “over the next several weeks.” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that some North Korean military units were already in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Russia has been struggling against a Ukraine incursion.
North Korea’s troop deployment could mark a serious escalation of the almost three-year war. It caught many outside observers by surprise because North