Bruce Klingner
North Korea’s dispatch of 1,500 special forces to Russia, as the vanguard of an estimated 12,000 troops to join Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, marks a significant evolution of Pyongyang’s evolving strategic partnership with Moscow.
North Korea’s action will prolong the conflict and could lead to greater Russian willingness to supply more sophisticated military technology to Pyongyang. South Korea will face greater pressure to respond, potentially by abandoning its reluctance to provide lethal aid directly to Ukraine.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) disclosed satellite imagery of North Korea transporting special forces to the Russian Far East via a Russian naval ship. It also obtained a video showing North Korean troops being issued Russian uniforms, equipment, and fake identification cards to disguise themselves as Russian units from Siberia.
North Korean forces fighting in Ukraine marks a major escalation of Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and the first time it has deployed large-scale ground forces overseas. Previously, North Korea had limited its role to sending fighter pilots to participate in the Vietnam War, to fly for Egypt in the Yom Kippur War, and small units of military advisers and troops to Syria’s 2016 civil war.
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