Detonating a grenade under the chin rather than being captured. Using a fellow soldier to lure out attack drones. Removing body armor plates and helmets to enable faster attacks on foot. Writing pledges of allegiance to North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
These are the brutal and near-suicidal tactics of North Korean soldiers, who have, since November, been deployed to repel Ukraine’s incursion in the southern Russian border region of Kursk.
Up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, according to Western intelligence reports, which say around 4,000 troops have been killed or injured.
Ahead of a likely escalation before any peace talks, Moscow is experiencing manpower shortages and Pyongyang is expected to send reinforcements, according to Ukrainian defense intelligence.
CNN has gained a rare insight into the world of North Korean troops fighting for Russia in interviews with Ukrainian special operations forces who told CNN the North Koreans they faced in intense fighting did not surrender.
In one video, shared with CNN, a Ukrainian soldier approaches an injured North Korean soldier who was lying face down, during clashes. As the Ukrainian pulls the North Korean soldier’s leg to see if he is still alive, the North Korean lets out a scream in Korean before detonating a grenade next to his head.
The Ukrainians swiftly open fire and dive back. South Korean lawmakers were told by the country’s intelligence service, who have provided assistance to Kyiv, that the soldier in the video’s last words were: “General Kim Jong Un.”
“They use grenades, which means they can blow themselves up,” said Pokémon, the call sign of a commander with the 6th Special Operations Forces, who like the other Ukrainian soldiers CNN spoke to, did not want to give his name for security reasons.
“They can just brazenly go into battle until they are neutralized,” Pokémon said, adding: “Despite all attempts to call them to surrender, they will continue to fight.”
He added that the North Koreans were unprepared for Ukraine’s battlefield realities, where modern drone combat and archaic trench warfare have led to significant casualties.
While the North Korean soldiers are “all young, trained, hardy fighters,”Pokémon said, they would have not previously faced a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) – which have transformed the war in Ukraine – in combat. “They are prepared for the realities of war in 1980 at best,” he said.
The Ukrainians CNN spoke with said the North Koreans persisted in frontal, mass assaults, often hitting the same place repeatedly, despite major losses.
Amur, a company commander, said some North Koreans removed their helmets and the heavy protective plates from their body armour, to make them lighter on their feet and enable a faster assault at Ukrainian positions.
“They’re very maneuverable and they run and move very quickly,” he said. “They’re hard to catch, especially with a drone,” Amur added, explaining that they often weave an indirect path towards Ukrainian defenses, as if trained to not run in a straight line.
The North Koreans also leave anti-tank mines on roads as they go, Amur said. “Every shelter, every car they just destroy with anti-tank grenade launchers. They move very fast, (they) literally run,” he said.
Amur showed CNN military equipment obtained from a fallen North Korean soldier, including a new issue rucksack that Amur said contained the bare minimum for survival but was laden with ammunition.
“In their backpacks is the minimum of water, small bottles – up to a liter,” Amur said. “There are no additional warm clothes – no hats, no scarves, nothing.”
Amur said the North Koreans appear to have the more modern versions of Russian standard issue equipment, with most in possession of around 10 magazines, 5-10 grenades, machine gun ammunition and mines. The North Korean soldier was carrying an AK-12 assault rifle – the newer model of the standard issue AK-47, Amur said.
Notes, fake military ID found
Earlier this month, Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers, and released video of the injured men, speaking Korean and receiving treatment, as evidence of Pyongyang’s robust military support for Moscow.
Ukrainian special operations forces shared footage with CNN of the moment one of the soldiers was captured. The video shows a visibly injured North Korean soldier, wincing in pain, being carried by Ukrainian soldiers through their razor-wire defenses and land mines to safety.
Russian shelling escalated as the soldier was captured, Ukrainian officials said, aimed at stopping the North Korean soldier from being taken alive.
Ukrainian troops have taken DNA samples – saliva swabs and locks of hair – from the dead, which they said showed them to be of East Asian extraction, and provided further evidence of North Korean involvement.
The North Korean soldier seen detonating the grenade in the video carried a fake Russian military ID which identified him as 29-year-old Ment Chat. The document said he joined the Russian army in October and was from the Russian border region of Tuva, near Mongolia.
CNN saw several other notes and papers that Ukrainian soldiers found on the bodies of other North Korean soldiers.
One sheet of paper is peppered with pledges of allegiance to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and of victory in battle. It is unclear if the notes were meant to emphasize the soldier’s loyalty if killed in battle to protect their surviving families, or if it truly reflects their mindset.
Another note retrieved from the bodies extols North Korea’s prowess in combat and derides their enemy, Ukraine.
“The hammer of death to the unknown and the puppet trash is not far off. We wield the powerful force that makes them tremble in fear. An invincible and certain-to-win battle.”
Another note, from the collection said: “I will demonstrate unparalleled bravery to its fullest. World, watch closely.”
Acts of ‘disloyalty’ recorded
Ukrainian officials who reviewed the papers said the North Korean units consider their involvement in Russia’s war as an opportunity to gain battle experience to assist their leader in any future conflict nearer home.
While North Korea is one of the most militarized societies on earth – with an estimated 1.2 million armed service personnel and mandatory military service from age 17 – its troops have had very limited exposure to the battlefield since the Korean War, where an armistice brought hostilities to a halt in 1953.
Another document, likely written by an officer, recorded acts of disloyalty by North Korean subordinates – a common practice in the totalitarian state, where citizens are encouraged to inform on each other.
One note said a soldier had “engaged in an unimaginably disgraceful act by stealing supplies.” Another note said a different soldier had “failed to uphold the Supreme Commander’s dignity and placed his personal interests above all.”
Other papers contained the radio codes of the North Korean force, but also contained notes on new tactics to counter drone attacks, from which Amur said North Koreans had suffered major losses.
“My unit could take out about 30 enemy soldiers in a day’s work, just by throwing grenades on their heads. They didn’t understand what to do,” he said.
Labelled “How to destroy drones,” the handwritten North Korean note suggested using soldiers as bait.
“When a drone is spotted… at a distance of about 10-12 meters, one out of three people should unconditionally lure it, and the other two should take aim and shoot.
“Another method is, since shells will not fall again in the same crater, take cover in the crater…” it read.
A battalion commander, call sign Bandit, told CNN the North Koreans had shown good marksmanship when shooting down drones from about a hundred-meter distance, suggesting a high level of training in North Korea. “It’s one person who takes the hit. Two or three people stand on the side and shoot directly.”
Amur described a ruthless opponent. “They don’t take our prisoners. All of our servicemen we found are shot in the back of the head.”
