North Korean Soldiers’ Face Tragic Struggles in Ukraine Conflict
Unsettling reports emerge from North Korea regarding the military’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict. Soldiers are reportedly taking drastic measures, including suicide, to avoid being sent into “human wave” attacks, a tactic being employed on behalf of Russia, The New York Post reported.
A recent week saw over 1,000 North Korean troops lose their lives in the Kursk region, accounting for around 10% of their total deployment to support Russian forces, The Post reported.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby elaborated on the dire situation, stating that both North Korean and Russian military leaders are treating these soldiers as expendable in combat operations.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby told reporters on Friday, per the outlet. “I hope they’re loading up their commanders with a bunch of body bags, because they’re clearly going to need it.”
Kirby added that North Korean troops are “highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky further confirmed the appalling conditions faced by these troops, highlighting severe shortages of basic supplies and water as they are forced into what many view as futile assaults.
“They have many losses. A great deal. And we can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all,” Zelensky said in a social media post. “Everything is arranged in a way that makes it impossible for us to capture the Koreans as prisoners – their own people are executing them, there are such cases. And the Russians send them into assaults with minimal protection.”
The Ukrainian president said that his military had taken North Korean soldiers, though they were “severely wounded and it was not possible to save their lives,” The New York Post reported.
Zelensky has urged neighboring countries, particularly China, to intervene and protect these North Korean soldiers, calling attention to the growing number of casualties reported—over 3,000 troops either killed or wounded in recent engagements.
“If China is sincere in its statements that the war should not escalate, it must exert appropriate pressure on Pyongyang,” he said.
As the conflict continues, Kirby indicated the U.S. is preparing to approve an additional security assistance package for Ukraine in the coming days, according to the outlet. This support is particularly critical as North Korea has sent approximately 12,000 troops to assist Russian efforts in the months since the conflict began nearly three years ago.
As both nations navigate this volatile situation, Ukrainian forces have recently managed to reclaim roughly 380 square miles within the Kursk area, though it is important to note that they have lost around 40% of that territory back to Russian control amid ongoing counteroffensive operations, per The Post.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
STOP ALL WARS