North Korean troops sent to support Russia are being used as ‘human mine detectors’ on the frontlines of the invasion of Ukraine.
The soldiers are deployed across a battlefield until they are blown up one after another, according to Lieutenant Colonel ‘Leopard’ of Ukraine’s 33rd ‘Big Cats’ battalion, who revealed that their lives are worth little to their higher-ups.
‘The North Koreans have a “meat grinder” strategy. Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, they just use people,’ he told the Times.
‘They just walk in single file, three to four metres from each other, if one is blown up, then the medics go behind to pick up the dead, the crowd continues one after another. That’s how they pass through minefields.’
Leopard said that the soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un often refuse to be taken alive, preferring to be killed in battle or to simply run as their commanders stand by unfazed.
The US estimates that 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to fight for Russia – about 4,000 of whom have already been killed on the battlefield, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Drone footage taken last month shows the Russian meatgrinder tactic in action, with two dozen North Korean soldiers seen slowly jogging towards the Ukrainian front line in clusters across an open, snow-covered battlefield as part of ‘suicidal charges’.
They didn’t try to seek cover, which was ‘like a dream for our mortars and machinegunners,’ Ukrainian veteran Vitaliy, 35, told the Times.
The North Korean soldiers have yet to learn how to use drones. Pictured above is a North Korean soldier who was filmed by a Ukrainian drone
A macabre image is believed to include dead North Koreans killed fighting for Russia in Kursk region
North Korean soldiers’ faces revealed in first close-up videos as they fight for Putin in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine
Vitaliy fought in the battle of Bakhmut, which saw waves of Russian murderers and rapists being sent to their deaths as apparent cannon fodder.
‘The Wagner group had a simple order: advance or die. It looked like exactly the same thing for the Koreans,’ he said.
The Khorne Group – an organisation linked to Kyiv forces in the 116th separate mechanised brigade and 95th air assault brigade -, shared footage showing what appeared to be North Korean soldiers dumbfounded by a Ukrainian FPV drone above them.
Another dark clip showed a line of what were said to be the bodies of soldiers from Pyongyang lying in blood-covered snow alongside slain Russians after their troop was all but wiped out.
The Khorne Group said: ‘The long awaited North Koreans. Weakness and bravery are their tactics, their trump card is good fitness.’ They were ‘applying the same tactics as 70 years ago’, Khorne Group added, alluding to the Korean War.
Ukrainian and South Korean officials say the North Koreans have proven a burden to Russian forces due to their outdated battlefield tactics, while inexperience with drone warfare makes them easy targets for Kyiv’s battle-hardened warriors.
But Leopard said that while North Korean soldiers aren’t anywhere near as heavily armed as their Russian counterparts, this will change the longer they are involved in the war.
‘North Koreans use only small arms, machineguns, grenade launchers, mortars, maximum – that’s the extent of their technology’, he said.
‘They do not use drones yet, only the Russians. But I suspect they are starting to learn this, and the longer the war drags on, the more likely they are to innovate’, he added.
The Khorne Group – an organisation linked to Kyiv forces in the 116th separate mechanised brigade and 95th air assault brigade -, shared footage showing what appeared to be North Korean soldiers dumbfounded by a Ukrainian FPV drone above them
Reports say new footage shows North Korean troops on the frontline fighting for Vladimir Putin in Russia’s Kursk region, partially occupied by Ukraine
A North Korean soldier is seen hiding from a Ukrainian drone
Earlier, the US warned that North Korea is ‘significantly benefiting’ from its troops’ deployment in Ukraine as it makes them a more capable fighting force.
Deputy US ambassador Dorothy Camille Shea told the UN Security Council that nearly 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been training in Russia and fighting Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region.
Shea said Kim Jong Un’s soldiers are ‘significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbours.’
She added: ‘In turn, the DPRK will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally.’
South Korea’s UN ambassador, Joonkook Hwang, told the council that North Korean soldiers are ‘essentially slaves to Kim Jong Un, brainwashed to sacrifice their lives on faraway battlefields to raise money for his regime and secure advanced military technology from Russia.’
This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Russian troops were ‘burning the faces’ of dead North Korean servicemen to conceal their identities, sharing macabre images to illustrate his claim.
Citing a report by South Korea’s intelligence services, MP Lee Seong-kweun said yesterday: ‘In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred.
Russia burns faces of dead North Korean soldiers to hide losses, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says
North Koreans were fighting with severely outdated tactics according to analysts and officials
‘The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000.’
Despite those losses, the agency also said it had detected signs North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward.
Lee noted that the North’s elite Storm Corps – from which the initial deployment was drawn – had ‘the capacity to send reinforcements’.
The NIS also predicted ‘that Russia might offer reciprocal benefits’ for a new deployment, Lee said, including ‘modernising North Korea’s conventional weaponry’.
The lawmaker added that ‘several North Korean casualties’ had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks and training accidents, with the highest ranking ‘at least at the level of a general’.
The NIS said the high number of casualties could be attributed to the ‘unfamiliar battlefield environment, where North Korean forces are being utilised as expendable frontline assault units, and their lack of capability to counter drone attacks,’ said Lee.
‘Within the Russian military, complaints have reportedly surfaced that the North Korean troops, due to their lack of knowledge about drones, are more of a burden than an asset.’
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation in Kyiv, said: ‘The Russians’ tactics in the Kursk direction are as follows – North Korean soldiers are being accumulated in the woodland and driven to storm narrow sections in several directions at the same time. Their losses are significant.’
North Korean soldiers are seen in this image shared by Zelensky
A macabre image is believed to include dead North Koreans killed fighting for Russia in Kursk region
Ukraine is in the midst of launching a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating point possible before trump takes office.
Zelensky called the Kursk offensive ‘one of our biggest wins,’ which has cost Russia and North Korea, which sent soldiers to help Russia in Kursk, thousands of troops.
Zelensky said the offensive resulted in North Korea suffering 4,000 casualties, but US estimates put the number lower at about 1,200.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk