North Korean Soldiers in Ukraine Are the Definition of 'Cannon Fodder'
By RICK MORAN
It appears that Russian commanders have found the perfect mission for the North Korean fanatics. They are conducting human wave attacks on Ukraine troops dug in near Kursk, the territory taken by surprise when Ukraine invaded Russia last August.
Loss of life is massive, says Kirby.
“It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," he said.
Kirby says that North Koreans are now carrying out "massed, dismounted assaults" against Ukrainian forces in Kursk.
"And these human wave tactics that we're seeing haven't really been all that effective," Kirby said. "We assess that they've resulted in heavy casualties for these North Korean forces."
"Our estimate is that, to date, they have suffered more than 1,000 killed or wounded in this particular fighting in just the past week of them fighting on the front lines." Kirby added that the soldiers "appear to be highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile."Not all of North Koreans are on board with the suicide attacks.
Kirby also said on Friday that the US has reports "of North Korean soldiers taking their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces, likely out of fear of reprisal against their families in North Korea in the event that they're captured."
The alleged treatment of North Korean soldiers is not dissimilar to how Moscow has treated some of its own forces — Russian troops have also frequently attempted to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with "meat wave" attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that more than 3,000 North Koreans had been killed or wounded in the Kursk region. This answers the question of whether Russia would weaken its Eastern offensive in the Donbas to retake the territory currently occupied by Ukraine in Kursk.
“They have many losses. A great deal. And we can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all,” Zelensky said. “Everything is arranged in a way that makes it impossible for us to capture the Koreans as prisoners – their own people are executing them, there are such cases. And the Russians send them into assaults with minimal protection.”
The cruelty of being treated as cannon fodder: A “human wave” of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia are being sent to their deaths in “hopeless” attacks by generals who saw them as expendable. https://t.co/ysZWDLOwwH
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) December 28, 2024
Now comes the hard part: How much of this from the White House and Kyiv are we supposed to believe?
The information certainly plays into our stereotypes of North Korean soldiers being fanatics and following orders. But would they really give up their lives for Russians so easily?
PBS has confirmed at least some North Korean casualties.
So far, there hasn't been any pushback on the allegations from either Russia or North Korea nor would we expect any confirmation or denial.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a primarily objective source of information, mostly quotes the same sources.
North Korean forces are continuing to experience high casualty rates amid recent confirmation of the first captured North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby stated on December 27 that North Korean forces suffered around 1,000 casualties over the past week in Kursk Oblast (roughly December 20 to 27) and that the Russian command is using — and North Korean authorities are permitting Russia to use — lower and higher-ranking North Korean soldiers in infantry-led assaults without armored vehicle support.
The fog of war is augmented by the desire for both sides to propagandize the fighting. As brutal and inhuman as the Russian attitude toward North Korean soldiers appears to be, it's in keeping with the way they treat their own conscripts.
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