As you may know, I have written several times about the alleged deployment of North Korean combat troops in the Kursk region, which was widely reported by the Western and Ukrainian media who talked of "human wave assaults" and suggested that the Koreans were being used elsewhere outside of Russia proper in the SMO. I argued that if there were Korean troops , they were keeping a low profile.
TUCKER: Have you seen any NORTH KOREAN soldiers?
PATRICK LANCASTER: I tried to investigate the reports… I was not able to locate any of them.
I felt that the likelihood of Korean troops being employed in any substantial way in Kursk was low, due to language difficulties, problems of coordination, and other factors-- especially the fact that they were not needed – that the Russians had more than enough manpower to handle Ukrainians on their own. In fact, the Russians have de-emphasized "manpower" in the SMO-- in favor of drones, airstrikes, and artillery – rather than going head-to-head or hand to hand. That has contributed to a well-documented low casualty rate compared to the Ukrainians – at least 1/10 that of the UAF.
The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied the Western media stories – it just didn't respond.
On the other hand, Russia and North Korea do have a mutual defense treaty which mandates military cooperation in the event of an attack on the territory of either . There been many reports of Korean troops training to cooperate with the Russians in eastern Russia.
On the other hand, while the Russians didn’t need the Koreans in Kursk, it was useful experience for the Koreans .
Now, however — suddenly —the Russians are publicizing the contributions of Korean combat troops —loudly! And so is Kim.
I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk Region's border areas, who, in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries, provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces. Soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army, carrying out combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism in repulsing the Ukrainian invasion. Gerasimov reporting to Putin
This comes with a statement from Kim to the same effect.
Yet, there are many questions.
There have been few reports from Russian soldiers or journalists in Kursk about the presence of Asian soldiers, other than the Buryat Battalion attached to the 111th Guards Air Assault brigade.
So was the Kremlin hiding the deployment of North Korean troops?
Not exactly. As Alex Mercouris would put it: “Just not sayin’”
There were good reasons for the coyness.
With the Biden administration hyping the presence of North Koreans, there was always the chance of the West using it as an excuse for further escalation.
Washington could pressure South Korea to increase support for Ukraine – or to send troops to gain combat experience as the North Koreans were doing, raising the chances of a military conflict on the Korean peninsula.
Why reveal it now?
There is much less risk for both North Korea and Russia.
Trump’s economic policies in addition to the US support for the failed right wing coup in South Korea.have weakened South Korea’s trust in the US .
Russia has just signed a mutual security pact with Iran and, with the possibility of war between the US and Iran and Israel, it needs to signal it will honor its agreement and stand by its ally.
It strengthens Kim’s position in directly negotiating with the US.
It indicates that Russia has allies just as the US does. In this case, a nuclear ally.
Russia is also sending a message: ‘we’re in this conflict to win. You got a gang. We do too’.
How did the Koreans operate in Kursk?
At first, they were trained at training grounds, familiarized themselves with modern combat tactics, mastered drone control skills, and became familiar with field realities.
Then the "combat Buryats," as our military jokingly and for the sake of secrecy called them, were transferred to the Kursk region. They lived in field conditions so as not to "show off." At first, they held the third line, then the second, they were tested in fortifications and, finally, in assaults.
The Korean soldiers distinguished themselves with their coherence, discipline, fatal disregard for death and remarkable endurance. It is understandable - they are mostly young guys, strong, pumped up and well-trained in their homeland. Especially their units of the Special Operations Forces.
The allies made a great contribution to the liberation of the Korenevsky district in the battles near Staraya and Novaya Sorochiny and in the breakthrough to Kurilovka...
They had a strict rule - not to be captured alive. And not to surrender voluntarily. Slavyangrad
The Russians train their soldiers for at least 6 months and then introduce them to combat, which takes more months.
So, it is unlikely that the Koreans were deployed in real combat situations right on arrival. As this writer (above) suggests, first they had to be familiar with field conditions, second, they were deployed defensively. Only after some time were they used offensively — where they proved themselves admirably, using Russian —not Korean— tactics.
Those “human wave assaults” didn’t happen.
And to keep things in perspective, the Buryat Battalion is about 400 men. At the very most there would only be 100 to 200 Korean soldiers embedded in it at any one time. With perhaps 100 to 200 deployed elsewhere. Not exactly a large force,
Zelensky was insisting 30~40,000 thousand.
Article 3
Article 3 is now being proofread. It is fully 8000 words long! I should mention that I got a lot of help from “Bob”, who understands LLMs better than I— among other things. Which is to say , he understands a lot of things better.
I wish I could credit him but he cannot disclose his actual identity,.
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Hopefully, Article 3 will be out by the end of the week. It will be followed by Article 4 after that.
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—Julian, the Toilet Guy.
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Putin was mocking the West, he was being facetious, when he said thanks to the North Koreans who assisting in Kursk.
The photo that was posted of supposed North Koreans with the person in the centre's face covered with a Tiger's head mask, reveals a group of Mongolians, with their facial features being a dead give away, and vastly different from North Koreans.
One can only imagine how Putin must be laughing at the Ukrainians and Westerners who are saying, there, you see, there were North Koreans in Kursk, Putin has just admitted it.
N. Korea has 200,000 in special forces. 1.3M standing army and 6M reserves. I'm thinking Ukraine may be right. N. Korea would want to rotate through 20-40,000 spec ops at a time just to gain combat experience. It's funny but N. Korea has been at peace for over 70 years.