North prepares for additional troop deployment to Russia… Aims to mass-produce combat-hardened fighters
Troops receive supplies from the Russian military. [Photo/Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (SPRAVDI)]
North Korea is reportedly preparing an additional troop deployment to the Russian front in the war with Ukraine. The goal appears to be to mass-produce combat-hardened fighters.
According to a high-ranking North Korean military source reached at the end of May, special forces, including the Reconnaissance General Bureau, have recently intensified live combat training in preparation.
The military is said to have set a clear objective to foster a large number of troops with actual combat experience through additional deployments.
In particular, a directive was reportedly issued in March saying that all soldiers in special operations units like the Reconnaissance General Bureau must gain experience in modern warfare.
Accordingly, Reconnaissance Bureau units stationed in South Pyongan and South Hwanghae provinces are conducting live fire and field concealment training at least four times a week. The source said they are especially investing time in camouflage tactics to evade drone attacks.
North Korea is believed to have sent a total of 15,000 troops to Russia’s war in Ukraine in two separate deployments. They suffered around 4,700 casualties, most of them the result of drone attacks.
To reduce the high level of losses, the army is now concentrating on camouflage and concealment training. In other words, while gaining real combat experience through the deployment, it is also taking measures to prevent large-scale losses from drone attacks.
“In the Russia war, most of our casualties were caused by drones,” the source said. “That’s why we’re stepping up camouflage and concealment training.”
“Special forces like the Reconnaissance Bureau and the Storm Corps are now staffed with soldiers who have returned from Russia and are providing tactical training. They are already well-versed in how to evade drone attacks,” he said. “We don’t know when the next deployment order will come, but the troops are fully prepared to be thrown into combat at any time.”
“Sending troops in this way to train more combat-hardened fighters is one of the Party’s strategies,” he said. “This also reflects the determination to strengthen the entire military’s real combat capability and fighting power in order to liberate the southern land as soon as possible.”
Kang is a reporter at NK Times, a Seoul-based media outlet focused on North Korean issues. He was born in 1978 in Chongjin and graduated from Chongjin 1st High School in North Korea. After 10 years of military service in the 4th Army Corps, he attended Chongjin Agricultural University before defecting.
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