The NATO and its partners are visibly rattled by the prospects of North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine alongside the Russians. The NATO Secretary General has confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to the Kursk region calling it a “dangerous expansion of Russia's war”. He has also labelled the move as “yet another breach of UN Security Council resolutions” and “significant escalation in the DPRK’s ongoing involvement in Russia's illegal war”. Furthermore, the “deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security” which not only “fuels the Russian war against Ukraine”, it “undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula”.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon spokeswoman has cautioned that by sending troops to fight in Ukraine, North Korea becomes a “co-belligerents in the war”; but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has dismissed it noting that “Western military instructors long have been covertly deployed to Ukraine to help its military use long-range weapons provided by Western partners”

According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, on 08 October 2024, nearly 1,500 North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia via Vladivostok for training at a Russian base; another batch (unspecified numbers) would follow soon. These soldiers belong to the “Storm Corps” (40,000-80,000 soldiers) that has a history of conducting raids such as the Blue House raid in January 1968. It is not the first time that DPRK has deployed troops overseas; in the past, North Korean fighter pilots and military advisory groups served in Vietnam and Egypt.

There are at least four important reasons which prompted North Korea to dispatch troops to Russia for training and thence to fight alongside the Russian soldiers in the Kursk region. First, the convergence of views between President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the domination of the West led international order. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have been under severe international sanctions led by the United States which triggered coming together of their thoughts-ideas-actions. It is thus not surprising that Russia Ukraine war was an opportune moment for Kim Jong Un to deliver on his statement “We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership... and we will be together in the fight against imperialism”. Also, “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces” clearly showcase the “unity of aim” of the two leaders. This should worry the South Korea, Japan and the US, who would now have to confront the combined military capability of the Russia and North Korea which makes the region highly unstable marked by frequent missile launches by North Korea with potential of escalation.

Second, the June 2024 “comprehensive partnership agreement” between Russia and North Korea cements their relationship towards “a new, high level of alliance”. The Agreement includes a clause in which both would provide “mutual assistance in the event of aggression” against either country. Although Vladimir Putin did not elaborate on this part of the statement, there were apprehensions that it was meant to support Russia in terms of active duty fighters.

Third, it is to be noted that nearly 7,00,000 Russian military personnel have been lost / wounded in the last 32 months since 22 February 2022. Russia has also sought the services of foreign national (Cuba, Syria, Central Asia, and South Asia (Nepal and India) to fight the war on behalf of Russia and according to Indian media sources 13,196 foreign fighters are supporting Russia through combat operations and of these 5,878 have lost their lives. The North Korean soldiers are thus meant to supplement the declining combatants.

Fourth, it is believed that deployment of North Korean troops is part of the barter of ‘goods and services’ wherein Russia would help North Korea with advanced military technology to reinforce its military industrial complex. It is also envisaged that the use of North Korean missile systems in actual combat in the Russia Ukraine war would help determine the efficacy of the missile system particularly against

West manufactured arms and defenses. It is now known that a large majority of North Korean origin missiles fired by the Russian forces had malfunctioned and missed the targets in Ukraine. Russia can be expected to help in making the North Korean missile arsenal more effective and accurate.

Finally, the dispatch-deployment of North Korean soldiers is not free from challenges. The top challenge is in the form of command and control, tactical battle field communications, and interoperability of weapons. Besides, the North Korean soldiers will encounter language problems too. At another level, there are fears that in case there are high casualties among the North Korean soldiers, as seen in the case of Russian soldiers, many of them may decide to desert the front lines, or defect to the West-Ukraine and even seek asylum in South Korea.

Dr. Vijay Sakhuja is Professor and Head, Center of Excellence for Geopolitics and International Studies (CEGIS), REVA University, Bengaluru and is associated with Kalinga International Foundation, New Delhi.