Captured North Korean soldiers have disclosed that Pyongyang's security services are misleading their troops stationed in Russia's Kursk Oblast, telling them they are fighting not only Ukrainian forces but also the South Korean military.
The South Korean newspaper Chosun Daily reported the findings, citing exclusive interviews with two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) currently held in Ukraine.
The two soldiers, captured by Ukrainian forces last month, spoke from a Ukrainian POW camp, revealing the extent of misinformation used to boost troop morale. One soldier admitted he and his comrades were led to believe they were directly engaging South Korean troops on the battlefield, intensifying their aggression and resolve.
"Believing we were fighting South Koreans made us more determined," the soldier confessed.
According to the captives, ideological control was tightly maintained. Each North Korean battalion, consisting of roughly 500 soldiers, was overseen by one or two officers from North Korea's State Security Ministry. These officers were responsible for enforcing discipline and conducting ideological training sessions, ensuring the troops remained loyal and motivated.
One prisoner revealed that even Ukrainian drone operators were described as South Korean military personnel by the North Korean officers—a claim entirely unsubstantiated. Seoul has repeatedly affirmed that it has not provided any military support to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
However, HNGN cannot independently verify the claims.
The deployment of North Korean forces to Russia began last fall, with up to 12,000 troops sent to Kursk Oblast to reinforce Russian positions against a Ukrainian cross-border incursion launched in August 2024. One captive detailed the long journey to the Russian front lines, saying that a group of 2,500 North Korean soldiers departed on October 10, 2024, traveling by train, plane, and finally by bus before arriving in Kursk in mid-December.
Despite their presence on the front lines, direct interaction between North Korean and Russian forces was limited, according to one of the POWs, a trained sniper specializing in reconnaissance. "We had almost no contact with Russian soldiers. Commanders would coordinate only for essentials like ammunition and supplies," he said.
The cost of North Korea's involvement has been devastating. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously reported that North Korean units fighting alongside Russian forces had suffered approximately 4,000 casualties, with two-thirds of those killed in action. Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, attributed the high death toll to North Korea's lack of combat experience and its reliance on outdated human wave tactics, compounded by limited equipment and logistical support.
Ukraine's offensive into Kursk Oblast initially seized 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory in August 2024. While Ukrainian forces have since lost about half of that ground due to Russian counterattacks, a recent push reclaimed an additional 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles), signaling Kyiv's intent to sustain pressure on Russian defenses.
The revelation that North Korean soldiers were misled into believing they were fighting South Korean troops underscores the complex web of propaganda used by authoritarian regimes to control their forces and maintain ideological unity, even far from home.
