The Hermit’s Rumspringa

When Russian President Vladimir Putin received help last year fighting his war in Ukraine in the form of thousands of North Korean soldiers, some wondered, what does North Korea get out of this?

Plenty, it seems, maybe even more than it bargained for.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been assisting Russia with arms since the war broke out in 2022. But last year, as the two grew even closer with the signing of a mutual defense treaty in June, he offered to send more than 10,000 soldiers.

Then Kim deployed some of the country’s most elite warriors, the Storm Corps, to Russia.

In November, these soldiers appeared at the Ukrainian front and also in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory last summer in a stunning advance.

There are mixed opinions on how effective these troops have been – they have no real-world combat experience despite North Korea being the most heavily militarized country in the world. Some say these forces are being used as “cannon fodder,” but are fearless as they advance into suicidal situations. Others say they are disciplined, committed, and adept with weapons, often having better equipment and ability than the Russian soldiers they fight alongside.

Regardless, most analysts believe these soldiers were not prepared for the modern drone warfare they encountered or the flat terrain of the steppe in eastern Ukraine and western Russia. As a result, an estimated 1,000 of these soldiers have been killed in the fighting, with thousands more wounded – there are no official numbers because North Korea and Russia both deny the soldiers are even there. Even so, Ukrainian military officials believe the unit has lost half of its original number in three months.

Meanwhile, these troops go to great lengths to avoid being captured, even committing suicide, because they are worried about reprisals against their families back home, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month. He added that two had been captured, with one asking to defect. Also, Ukraine has been releasing testimonies from its captured North Korean POWs: The soldiers told the Ukrainians they had believed they were being deployed to train, not fight. Ukraine has also released handwritten letters and diaries it has found on the dead North Korean soldiers, NK News reported.

Meanwhile, for weeks, the troops have been missing in action, and officials believe they suffered severe casualties and are being rotated out, the New York Times reported.

Despite the losses, analysts say the sacrifice is worth it for North Korea.

Besides the regular transfers of the basics such as food and fuel that Russia has been exchanging for arms and munitions since 2023 with North Korea, which has had trouble meeting its needs because of Western sanctions on the country, Pyongyang gets paid for the soldiers, adding to its revenue streams. At the same time, analysts say the country also gets a chance to test these soldiers and their weapons against Western ones on the battlefield and see how they perform.

Meanwhile, North Korea gains intelligence on the weapons used by the Russians and also the Ukrainians, who are deploying sophisticated arms sent by Western countries such as HIMARS. “They’re bringing these lessons home in the hardest way possible: by bleeding for them,” Joseph Bermudez of the Center for International and Strategic Studies told Business Insider.

North Korea also wants access to sophisticated weapons technologies such as advanced space, satellite, electronic, and drone technology, even as it is trying to bolster its nuclear fighting capabilities. US officials believe Russia intends to share some of its own – already, Putin has promised to help North Korea’s satellite launch program by providing advanced technology.

Observers say that could mean Russia would be helping North Korea develop its long-range ballistic missiles – a move that would be in clear violation of United Nations sanctions.

Still, while there is plenty of gain for Kim, there is also risk, they think.

For example, North Korea has almost complete control over the information its citizens can access, so its citizens aren’t exposed to foreign influences or see what conditions are like – including the wealth – elsewhere.

Kim has recently made even greater efforts to “keep the country’s youth in line,” wrote the Wall Street Journal, blocking videos and other media from South Korea and the West. But the soldiers in Russia and Ukraine and their families might be the Achilles’ heel.

“Families will be angry at losing their children in a foreign war,” wrote the International Crisis Group. “The conscripts will gain exposure to foreign ideas that may call into question the system they live within; those who survive could bring their newfound knowledge back to North Korea.”

“Kim’s gamble,” it added, “is that the benefits outweigh the costs.”