North Korean troops have been sent for “error correction” training, after suffering heavy losses fighting in the Kursk region of Russia, the Ukrainian government claims.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Kyiv’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said on social media that although North Korean troops will continue to fight alongside Russia, they are working on improving tactics.
“The North Korean military in Kursk region have not learnt how to resist our drones and artillery, have suffered significant losses, and are now working with Russian commanders and their own officers on ‘error correction’,” Kovalenko wrote on Telegram.
“It is too early to say that they will not continue to actively participate in the war. They are going to continue to be actively involved.”
• North Korean troops fighting for Russia ‘told to die rather than surrender’
He added: “Another big problem for [North Korean dictator] Kim is the fact that the North Koreans were captured, and there is a clear record of the bodies of the dead Koreans. The Russians were supposed to ensure maximum anonymity of their participation in the battles in accordance with the initial agreements, but they did not ensure this.”
Such Ukrainian statements about the battlefield are difficult to verify, but they match reports from frontline commanders in Kursk, where Ukraine has taken and held territory, that North Korean forces have been less visible in the past fortnight.
• North Korean POWs will feel like they’ve ‘stepped out of a time machine’
Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence agencies claim that 3,000 to 4,000 of the 11,000 to 12,000 North Korean troops said to be in Kursk have been injured, including some 300 who have been killed. Accounts of their conduct on the battlefield have portrayed them both as fearlessly self-sacrificing and ineptly self-destructive.
In videos shared online, the North Korean prisoners of war admitted that they did not know which country they were in
HANDOUT/TELEGRAM/V_ZELENSKIY_OFFICIAL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
This reflects the contradictory impulses of Ukraine’s communications strategy, which seeks to present them as both laughably inferior to the defenders, but also as a dire threat, against which the country needs western military help.
Either way, no one is predicting their withdrawal from the battlefield. Whatever their value as soldiers, North Korea is an important arms supplier to Russia.
“Moscow is increasingly relying on Pyongyang and becoming dependent,” Kovalenko said in another post.
“The delivery of M-1978 Koksan 170mm self-propelled artillery systems to Russia and their shipment to Kursk region also indicates the loss of heavy artillery units by the Russian army and its shortage … More than 50 per cent, and sometimes in certain areas more than 70 per cent of artillery ammunition and mines are North Korean.”
In North Korea, meanwhile, Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear weapons factory and spoke of the importance of expanding the country’s deterrent to face the “inevitable” conflict with its enemies.
Kim Jong-un at the nuclear weapons factory in North Korea
STR/KCNA VIA KNS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
“[North Korea’s] security situation, the world’s most unstable situation in which a long-term confrontation with the most vicious hostile countries is inevitable, makes it indispensable for the country to steadily strengthen the nuclear shield,” he was quoted as saying by state media.
The White House has played down a remark by President Trump that appeared to signal acceptance of North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed nation. After his inauguration, Trump referred to Kim as “a nuclear power”, a term that is formally applied only to the US, Russia, China, France and Britain.
Although it is well known that North Korea possesses nuclear warheads, in diplomatic terms the use of the expression implies an acceptance of them, and an abandonment of efforts at disarmament.
But the National Security Council spokesman, Brian Hughes, said that Trump did seek to eliminate Kim’s nuclear arsenal. “President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearisation of North Korea, just as he did in his first term,” he said.