The Russian leader, as we know, had recruited North Korean soldiers to his ranks in order to get his army out of a difficult situation.
However, the North Korean soldiers did not perform as Putin had imagined.
Western officials claim that the North Korean soldiers sent to help Russia have not yet been taken into battle due to their inadequate training.
"We point to inadequate training and lack of logistical support as the main reasons why North Korea has not yet started fighting," a Western official said.
Ukrainian Military Intelligence Spokesman Andrii Chernyak claimed that North Korean soldiers were involved in the war.
Speaking to Radio Free Europe, the North Korean soldier emphasized the following:
If they have joined the units participating in active hostilities, then we can safely say that they are involved in the war.
However, Chernyak said that the North Koreans may not be deployed to the front lines, and continued as follows:
They may not be in advanced positions, but they are facilitating aggression against Ukraine, ensuring that Ukrainian soldiers are killed.
There have been several reports that Russia is facing initial problems in its efforts to integrate North Korean soldiers into Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service has claimed that North Korean soldiers are complaining of hunger.
CNN reported in October that Russian soldiers were unhappy with their new colleagues.
A Russian soldier also said that the North Koreans “cannot be commanded like ours” and appeared “poorly trained.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed earlier this week that some North Korean soldiers had died in Ukraine.
He told Japanese media outlet Kyodo News that about 12,000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to fight on Russia’s behalf.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has brought in North Korean soldiers to bolster his forces following reports that Moscow has suffered 700,000 casualties since the invasion in 2022.
A Ukrainian official made the following statement:
It is true that the Russians can make up for the losses they have lost.
It must be said that the quality of the reserves is very low and their training is extremely inadequate.
In contrast to the incompetence of the North Korean soldiers, those who have escaped from North Korea are providing considerable support to the Ukrainian troops.
It has emerged that a group of attackers who escaped from North Korea have given propaganda leaflets to Ukrainian officials urging Pyongyang fighters to stop fighting against Ukrainian troops in Russia.
A group of former North Koreans delivered materials, including written instructions and audio messages to North Korean fighters on how to defect, to the Ukrainian embassy in Seoul, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Jang Se-yul, who heads the group, said Kiev's military could "ensure mass surrenders and desertions among North Korean soldiers if proactive psychological warfare is launched," according to the news agency.
U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence have said that more than 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed in Russia's Kursk region, where Moscow has been struggling to fend off a surprise Ukrainian cross-border offensive since early August.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian defense minister Rustem Umerov said up to 15,000 troops could support Russian forces in Kursk.
Pyongyang and Moscow have grown closer since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, providing significant amounts of munitions and missiles for the Kremlin’s war effort.
The two countries signed a mutual defense pact in June, according to North Korea’s official KCNA news agency, which was ratified by Pyongyang on Tuesday.
North Korea is thought to have received economic aid from Russia, as well as help in building up its food and weapons arsenal, as it advances its nuclear development programs.
