North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk side by side in a garden in Pyongyang following the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, in this photo published by the Korean Central News Agency on June 20, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Around six months after deploying its troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, North Korea appears to have lost thousands of young men but received rare military technology and economic aid as a reward to potentially offset international sanctions.
In October, North Korea dispatched more than 10,000 troops to fight alongside Russians in the front-line Kursk region, just a few months after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a landmark comprehensive strategic partnership in Pyongyang in June.
South Korea’s military estimated that around 4,000 of the troops dispatched last year have been killed or injured, reportedly due to the frequent use of drones in the war, a feature of modern warfare they are unaccustomed to facing. The North is believed to have sent an additional 3,000 troops to the war earlier this year, according to Seoul officials.
Criticism has grown that North Korea has deployed its young soldiers to the front lines merely as cannon fodder.
Testimonies from two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces revealed that they had been unaware of being deployed overseas for combat until arriving in Kursk, let alone their parents and families back in North Korea.
One of the two North Korean soldiers expressed his wish to defect to South Korea during a meeting with a South Korean lawmaker in Ukraine in February, prompting Seoul to scramble to arrange for his relocation, though no clear progress has been reported.
Reports from Ukraine later said North Korean troops have become accustomed to combat drones and have begun making meaningful combat contributions, an apparent sign that they are gaining real experience in modern warfare.
The mutual Pyongyang-Moscow treaty and the North’s subsequent troop deployment immediately led to a surge in bilateral cooperation and exchanges, spanning not only the military but also the economy, culture and public health, bringing the two countries into ever closer alignment.
Speculation has also arisen that Kim may visit Russia this year, possibly in May on the occasion of Moscow’s 80th Victory Day celebrations, in reciprocation of Putin’s visit to North Korea last year.
The military alignment is also apparently leading to significant technological and economic rewards from Russia to North Korea, whose economy remains severely handicapped by decades of international sanctions.
In November, South Korea’s National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik said Russia may have provided anti-air missiles and air defense equipment in return for North Korea’s troop deployment.
Other sensitive military technologies that North Korea may seek from Russia include those related to a small nuclear reactor for a nuclear-powered submarine it aspires to develop, reconnaissance satellites and reentry technology for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Russia is also extending much-needed economic aid to North Korea at a time when Pyongyang’s relations with China, traditionally its largest economic benefactor, are not at their best.
South Korea’s unification ministry estimated last month that the economic benefits North Korea receives from Russia amount to about US$3 billion, accounting for around 30 percent of the regime’s annual state budget, citing expert analysis.
This is insufficient to boost North Korea’s entire economy, but it is enough to fund Kim’s pet projects, such as the construction of hospitals, regional factories and other facilities for the public, it said.
“If the injuries suffered by North Korean troops are set aside, North Korea appears to have elevated its international influence and its strategic position to a certain extent through the troop deployment,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at South Korea’s Korea Institute for National Unification.
(Yonhap)
