Former North Korean soldiers tell BBC how soldiers fighting in Russia might fare

What Hanuel remembers most about his time in the North Korean army is the constant hunger. In his first month of service, he lost 10 kg in weight due to eating spoiled corn and moldy cabbage.

After three months of training, he says almost his entire battalion was severely malnourished and needed to be sent to a recovery center to gain weight.

When they were later deployed as front-line guards on the border with South Korea, rice replaced corn. But by the time it reached their bowls, much had been taken out by the rear units, and the remainder was cut down with sand.

Haneul says his unit was one of the best resources, it was a strategy to prevent them from going to South Korea. But this failed to stop Haneul.

In 2012, he ran a death-defying race across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) – the strip of land dividing North from South.

His experience and that of other military defectors helps shed light on the plight of thousands of North Korean soldiers deployed on the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

near Pyongyang Reportedly about 11,000 soldiers were sent To help Russian forces recapture part of their Kursk region in a surprise summer offensive by Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Seoul, Washington and Kiev said Soldiers were said to have now joined the fighting “in significant numbers”, and casualties were reported for the first time, with South Korean officials estimating that more than 100 had already been killed and more wounded. This figure has not been confirmed.

However, defectors and other military experts have told the BBC that these troops should not be underestimated.

According to South Korean intelligence, most belong to elite Storm Corps units, and have “high morale” but “lack understanding of contemporary warfare”.

Only tall, sporty men are selected for the Storm Corps, says defector Lee Hyun Seung, who trained North Korean special forces in the early 2000s before defecting in 2014.

He taught them martial arts, knife throwing, and making weapons from cutlery and other kitchen utensils.

But even though the Storm Corps’ training is more advanced than regular North Korean units, the soldiers are still undernourished and even malnourished.

Online videos of soldiers in Russia reportedly show young, “vulnerable” soldiers, Haneul says. They are a sharp contrast to Pyongyang’s propaganda videos, where men are seen breaking out of iron chains and breaking blocks of ice with their bare hands.

During his entire time in the Army, Haneul says he fired only three bullets in a live-fire training session.

The closest he came to fighting was when a hungry farmer crossed into the DMZ in search of vegetables. Haneul says he ignored instructions to “shoot any intruder” and let the man go with a warning.

Given the lack of information from North Korea, it is difficult to know how much has changed in the decade since Haneul seceded. The country’s leader Kim Jong Un appears to have invested his limited resources in missiles and nuclear weapons instead of his standing army.

But according to Ryu Seonghyun, another soldier who defected in 2019, the first three years in the army are “incredibly difficult”, even for special forces. The 28-year-old man, who worked as a driver in the Air Force for seven years, says conditions worsened during his service and rice gradually disappeared from the diet.

“Soldiers are sent into the mountains for several days with a small amount of rice, and are told it is part of their survival training.”

Given that these soldiers are trained to fight in the mountainous Korean Peninsula, defectors question how well they will adapt to fighting on the flat land and in the trenches of Kursk.

Importantly, the Storm Corps is not a front line unit. “Their mission is to infiltrate enemy lines and cause chaos deep inside enemy territory,” says Ryu.

But, he says, Kim Jong Un has no choice but to send special forces, because regular soldiers spend most of their time farming, construction or logging.

“To avoid damaging North Korea’s reputation in Russia, Kim Jong Un had to send people who could demonstrate at least a certain level of combat capability.”

The language barrier seems to have created an additional barrier. On Sunday, Ukraine’s defense intelligence unit said communications problems caused North Korean soldiers to accidentally fire on a Russian battalion, killing eight.

With these assessments, it might be easy to dismiss the troops as “cannon fodder” and a sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desperation. But defectors say that would be a mistake. Their loyalty towards the government and fighting spirit will matter a lot.

Hanuel, whose father and cousins ​​were in special forces, says, “Most of the soldiers in the Storm Corps come from working-class or peasant families, who are highly obedient to the Party and will follow orders unquestioningly.”

The intensive, ideological “brainwashing” sessions held every morning will ensure they are mentally prepared, Lee says. He believes that North Korean soldiers “will become accustomed to the battlefield, learn how to fight the enemy, and find ways to survive”.

Although the troops may not have been given a choice about whether to deploy, Ryu thinks many would have wanted to go. He says that ambitious people will see this as an opportunity to advance their careers.

And given how difficult it is to serve in North Korea, some may have had the chance to experience life abroad for the first time.

“I think they would be more willing to fight than Russian soldiers,” he said, admitting that in his situation, he too would have wanted to be sent.

Chun In-bum, a former commander of South Korea’s special forces, agrees with the defectors’ assessment. “Just because they lack food and training, doesn’t mean they are incapable. They will adapt quickly. We should not underestimate them.”

While 11,000 troops are unlikely to turn the tide of such a pitched war – Russia is estimated to be suffering more than a thousand casualties a day – experts and officials believe it could be just the first tranche. Pyongyang is potentially able to send up to 60,000 or even 100,000 if they are rotated.

In these numbers, Mr. Chun believes they may ultimately be effective.

At the same time, Kim Jong Un will be able to suffer major losses without affecting the stability of his regime, former soldiers say.

Haneul says, “Those sent will be people with no influence or connections – simply put, those who can be sacrificed without any issues.”

He was surprised to learn that the high-ranking parents in his front-line unit had no children: “That’s when I realized we were expendable.”

He doesn’t expect much resistance from the families of the dead, he says, whose sons will be hailed as heroes.

“There are countless parents who have lost their child after being sent to the army,” he says, recalling the death of his second cousin. His aunt received a certificate praising her son for his heroic contribution.

The loyalty of soldiers and their families may blunt Ukrainian and South Korean expectations that many will easily defect once they enter the fighting. Kiev and Seoul have discussed conducting psychological operations on the front lines to encourage people to surrender.

But it seems they do not have access to mobile phones. According to Ukrainian intelligence, phones of Russian soldiers are also confiscated before encounters with North Korean soldiers.

Therefore, possible infiltration strategies include broadcasting messages through loudspeakers or using drones to drop leaflets.

Both Ryu and Haneul decided to leave the country after reading anti-regime propaganda sent across the border from South Korea. But he doubts it will work so far from home.

They say it takes a lot of time to build up the will and courage to defect.

Furthermore, Haneul suspects that officers may have been ordered to shoot anyone attempting to escape. He remembers his comrades opening fire as he made his daring dash across the DMZ.

“Twelve bullets passed exactly a meter above my head,” he says.

Even capturing North Korean troops could prove challenging for Ukraine.

In the North, being a prisoner of war was considered extremely shameful and worse than death. Instead, soldiers are taught to take their own lives by shooting themselves or detonating a grenade.

Ryu remembers a famous military song called Save the Last Bullet. “They ask you to save two bullets, one to shoot the enemy and one to shoot yourself.”

Still, Lee, a former Special Forces instructor, is determined to help. He has offered to go to the frontline and communicate directly with the soldiers.

“It’s unlikely they will leave the country in large numbers, but we have to try. Hearing the familiar voices of mine and other North Koreans may have an impact on their psychology,” he says.

Haneul’s only hope is that he will find a home in North Korea. He knows that some of his relatives are likely to be among the soldiers sent to help Russia.

“I just hope they make it through it and come back safely.”

Additional reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee