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“North Korean Soldiers Arrive on Russia’s Front Line. How Ready Are They to Fight?”
“The North Korean troops nearing Russia’s front lines with Ukraine may not be the cream of the crop in Kim Jong Un’s army.
They are seemingly young—teenagers or in their early 20s—and likely in the early stages of military conscription, according to video footage and intelligence officials. The soldiers appear relatively short and slightly built, reflecting widespread malnourishment across impoverished North Korea, military analysts say.
Their special-forces training would have focused on assassinations and infrastructure destruction in mountainous South Korea, a far cry from the trench warfare unfolding in the flat plains along the Ukrainian-Russian border. The fresh-faced troops have likely never left North Korea. The country’s army operates aging and outdated conventional military equipment.
“Mere cannon fodder mercenaries,” South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers on Thursday, in an assessment of the troops. “
“The families of the troops have apparently been isolated and moved en masse to unknown locations, to limit knowledge of the Russia deployment, South Korea’s intelligence chief told lawmakers last week. “
I’m not sure they are intended to ever return to North Korea regardless of what happens to them on the battlefield, Kim may be dumping them.