N. Korean advance unit possibly deployed to Russia’s front lines: military

An advance team of North Korean troops may have been deployed to the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s military intel agency said Wednesday.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported the information to lawmakers during a regular parliamentary audit, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the ruling People Power Party and Rep. Park Sun-won of the main opposition Democratic Party.

When asked about foreign news reports suggesting North Korean troops being deployed to the war’s front lines, the agency said, “There is no precise information yet that the deployed North Korean troops are at the front lines.” But it added, “There is a possibility that some advance units have been sent to the front lines.”

The DIA also said the troops’ mobilization toward the battlefields, including to the Kursk border region in western Russia, appears to be imminent.

On reports of North Korean casualties on the front lines, the DIA said it had no information to support such claims.

The DIA did, however, expect North Korean troops to experience difficulties due to the unfamiliar terrain and method of warfare.

“The war is being carried out in the form of a drone combat, but North Korean troops have not been supplied with drones and have not been trained accordingly, so we anticipate considerable damage,” the agency said.

It added the North is expected to seek not only space-related and advanced military technology from Russia but also support for modernizing its conventional weapons as part of their growing military cooperation.

The agency also said the North has completed internal preparations for a test at its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site.

Additionally, the DIA said North Korea appears to have completed preparations for the launch of a long-range ballistic missile, possibly an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which the North is likely to test-fire around the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.

Meanwhile, on the effectiveness of South Korean propaganda broadcasts, the DIA said a North Korean soldier was seen dancing to one of the broadcasts while standing duty at a front-line guard post.

In July, South Korea’s military resumed blaring anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts, including K-pop, through loudspeakers along the border in response to the North’s sending of trash-carrying balloons toward the South.