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1/ Out of 12,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia to fight against Ukraine, only two have been captured alive. They have recently been telling their stories to American and South Korean journalists, providing a unique perspective on the war. ⬇️
2/ The two men are 21-year-old Baek (left) and 26-year-old Ri (right) (not their real names), both privates in the Korean People’s Army Special Operations Force. It numbers up to 80,000 men and is dedicated to carrying out military, political, and psychological operations.
3/ Both men say they were working under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's agency for clandestine operations such as commando raids, infiltrations and disruptions.
4/ Each battalion of about 500 men had 1 or 2 embedded political officers from the Ministry of State Security. The political officers told the men that surrender was treasonous and was not permitted. They were expected to kill themselves or be killed by their comrades if wounded.
5/ However, both Ri and Baek were the sole survivors of their units. They suffered critical injuries which left them too wounded to commit suicide and their comrades too dead to finish them off.
6/ Ri, a reconnaisance sniper, says he was conscripted at the age of 17, for compulsory military service that lasts a decade. He has not seen his parents for a decade. Baek, a rifleman, enlisted voluntarily in May 2021 and underwent three years of training.
7/ The two men were children of North Korea's professional class, enjoying privileges such as being able to live in the showcase capital of Pyongyang, studying English and owning smartphones (albeit restricted to North Korea's closed intranet).
8/ Both men were sent to Russia in late 2024. Ri says he was sent to a training ground in Vladivostok in early October and arrived in the Kursk region in mid-December. Baek went in November and reached Kursk on 3 January 2025. Neither man realised initially where they were going.
9/ The two men were issued with Russian army uniforms and falsified Russian military IDs. Their training was similar to that in North Korea, but included additional lessons in dealing with the threat of drones.
10/ A diary found by Ukrainian forces on the body of a dead North Korean soldier named Jong Kyong Hong illustrates anti-drone tactics. It describes using one soldier as bait for a drone, maintaining a 7 metre distance from it, while the other two attempt to shoot it down.
11/ Jong appears to have been sent to Russia as a punishment or penance for some unspecified wrongdoing. His diary includes an entry explaining why he had gone there:
12/ "I grew up, learning sincerely under the protection of the generous Party, receiving more love than I realized, and I did not understand the price at which my happiness was bought. Defending the homeland is a sacred duty of every citizen and the highest mission.
13/ "Since I can only be happy in the presence of my homeland, I, dressed in revolutionary uniform to protect the esteemed Comrade Supreme Commander [Kim Jong Un], committed a very serious offence in trying to protect Comrade Supreme Commander,…
14/ …even if it meant betraying the love of the Party that accepted and led me. The sin I committed ... opened the path to rebirth. I will join the front lines of this operation and sacrifice my life. I will unconditionally follow the orders of Comrade Supreme Commander…
15/ …I will show the world the courage and self-sacrifice of the Red Special Forces named after Kim Jong Un. And I will win this battle, return home, and fulfil the request of the Mother-Party."
16/ According to Ryu Seong-hyeon, a former North Korean soldier who defected in 2019, "Letters expressing your loyalty to the regime are an attempt to leave a legacy that allows you to be glorified in case you die in battle".
17/ On New Year's Eve, Kim Jong Un issued a message of praise to the men he had sent to Russia. "You have experienced the painful sacrifices and the joyful triumph of costly battle victories. The true camaraderie and the solemn emotion of patriotism." The reality was different.
18/ Baek and Ri were closely monitored by North Korean state security operatives in Russia. Ri says that the security operatives "told us that all Ukrainian military drone operators were actually South Korean soldiers."
19/ Baek says that "food and clothing were fine—no complaints." They appear to have been better treated than the Russians themselves, some of whom have complained on video about the North Koreans getting supplies that they lacked. <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1874876608328118755" color="blue">x.com/Gerashchenko_e…</a>
20/ The North Koreans did not have much contact with the Russians. “As lower-ranking soldiers, we had little interaction. Everything was handled by higher-ups—ammunition, supplies, clothing. There wasn’t much direct communication between North Korean and Russian soldiers."