The treaty between Russia and the DPRK contained a secret clause about sending North Korean troops to war against Ukraine.
This was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) with reference to a former Russian intelligence agent familiar with the details of the signed agreement.
The strategic partnership agreement between Russia and North Korea was signed in June 2024. It contains a secret clause under which Pyongyang received the right to send a thousand of its troops to Ukraine to gain experience in warfare. North Korea is likely to send more soldiers in the future.
Currently, most North Korean troops are kept at a safe distance from the front line in Ukraine. They are shown how the Russian army handles logistics on the front line, and are also taught new principles of warfare with the help of drones.
According to analysts, North Koreaʼs military could fill a variety of roles: missile technicians, infantrymen or even logistics support workers. In addition, this is how North Korea will observe modern warfare tactics and learn how its weapons perform on the battlefield.
Pyongyang is taking advantage of the chance to learn how to win a war of attrition and defeat the enemy with artillery, explains Benjamin Young, a nuclear security researcher at the American think tank at the Rand Corporation.
"No amount of training can replicate actual military experience, and this could bring the DPRK advantages in the event of a new conflict on the Korean Peninsula," Yang said.
The DPRK has already had the experience of sending its military as technicians to Egypt, and possibly to Syria and Zimbabwe. However, sending thousands of soldiers to the front in Ukraine is atypical for Pyongyang and risky for Kim Jong Unʼs regime, according to Fyodor Tertytskyi, a North Korea specialist from South Koreaʼs Kookmin University.
A senior European intelligence source told the newspaper that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is interested in escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula — the West will have to face yet another conflict, so Ukraine will receive less attention and funding.
Participation of the North Korean military in the war against Ukraine
The National Intelligence Service of South Korea reported that the DPRK has already sent 1,500 special forces to Russia. In general, according to South Korean intelligence, 12 thousand soldiers will be sent to Russia. The first part of the military was transported by ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet to Vladivostok on October 8-13, they were given Russian uniforms, weapons and fake Russian passports to hide their participation in the war.
Soon after that, videos about the training of North Koreans at Russian training grounds began to appear on the Internet, and "Babel" sources said that they are being trained in such cities as Khabarovsk, Ussuriysk, Blagoveshchensk, and Vladivostok. And on the basis of the 11th separate airborne assault brigade of the Russian Federation, a "special Buryat battalion" is being formed, staffed by citizens of the DPRK.
The head of the Ukrainian Intelligence (known as GUR) Kyrylo Budanov says that in exchange for soldiers, North Korea receives money and nuclear technology from Russia.
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