North Korean Soldiers Sent to Ukrainian Border

In late October, North Korea sent an estimated 10-12,000 troops to Russia. The soldiers have made their way close to the border with Ukraine and are being trained for combat. Around 8000 have been confirmed to be in the Kursk region of Russia, which was invaded and partially taken over by Ukrainian forces in August of this year. The North Korean soldiers in Russia haven’t entered combat yet but will soon. And more are likely to come; Russia and North Korea have only been strengthening their ties since Russia unlawfully invaded Ukraine in February 2022. According to US intelligence agencies, Russia has been buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea since 2022. 

It’s a desperate move from Russia. The front lines in the Russo-Ukrainian war haven’t significantly moved in over a year, with the exception of the aforementioned Kursk offensive. The conflict has turned into a grinding attritional war, with Russia trying to leverage its larger population, economy, and industrial base to conquer Ukraine. Russia’s invasion stalled out, and the nation faced increasing sanctions from NATO and other US allies. As the war progressed Russia drafted more and more people, raising the minimum conscription age from 27 to 30 in July 2023. Ukraine and Russia have 900,000 and 1.5 million active military personnel respectively, and so an extra 10,000 North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia won’t have a major impact. But the real threat to Ukraine is North Korea sending more soldiers. The hermit kingdom has 1.32 million active personnel of dubious quality, considering their lack of any military experience and the low government budget. 

Russia and North Korea have only been deepening their relations in the past few years. Both are pariah states ostracized by much of the international community, Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and North Korea for its totalitarianism and dismal human rights record. It’s in their own interest to work together against a united NATO which has been supplying substantial aid to Ukraine. Iran and China have also been increasingly supplying Russia with arms, earning ire from Western countries for doing so. This “new axis” of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea has formed in opposition to the US and its allies. It’s yet another reminder that the unipolar post-Cold War world of the United States’ global dominance has come to an end. While North Korea’s 10,000 troops in Russia haven’t even started fighting yet, their arrival has immense implications.