North Korean soldiers have played an important role in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Most recently, 12,000 North Korean soldiers helped Russia claw back Ukrainian advances on Russian territory in Kursk. In late February, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on his military to learn from “real combat experience” — widely seen as a reference to the Russo-Ukrainian War. We asked four experts to identify important lessons that North Korea’s military has been learning from its deployments in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.Read more below.Jonathan Corrado Director of Policy, The Korea SocietyNorth Korea’s military has drawn lessons in drone warfare. Its fighting force in Russia’s Kursk province has adapted a novel — and brutal — method for counteracting Ukrainian drones: dispatching a single soldier to an isolated area to lure the drone out to attack so that nearby forces can shoot it down from covered positions. “If the bait stands still, the drone will also stop moving[, and] the shooter eliminates the drone,” reads a diary entry from a captured North Korean soldier. According to Ukrainian military sources, the North Korean forces serving as the frontal assault force have improved their efficacy and reduced casualty rates by enhancing coordination with elite Russian drone units. A Ukrainian military intelligence officer said that North Korean troops are “observing and adapting” to the consistent employment of new technologies. North Korea’s military has even created training manuals using real-life battlefield examples of drone warfare from Ukraine — empowering electronic warfare units from the Korean People’s Army to engage in “drone takeover drills” by employing jam-and-capture tactics used by Russia’s military.Naoko Aoki Political scientist specializing in East Asian security issues, RAND CorporationA lesson that the North Korean military could be learning from its deployments in Russia’s war against Ukraine is how the troops’ exposure to the outside world could risk their ideological contamination. This
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North Korean soldiers have played an important role in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Most recently, 12,000 North Korean soldiers helped Russia claw back Ukrainian advances on Russian territory in Kursk. In late February, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on his military to learn from “real combat experience” — widely seen as a reference to the Russo-Ukrainian War. We asked four experts to identify important lessons that North Korea’s military has been learning from its deployments in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.Read more below.Jonathan Corrado Director of Policy, The Korea SocietyNorth Korea’s military has drawn lessons in drone warfare. Its fighting force
