 "The expendables? How North Korean soldiers are being used as bait by Russia in Ukraine war")
Is Russia using North Korean soldiers as bait in the Ukraine war?
This is what Kyiv is alleging.
According to reports, thousands of troops from Pyongyang have been deployed to the region.
But what do we know about the claim? And why does it matter?
Let’s take a closer look:
What do we know?
As per The Wall Street Journal, the details were revealed in the diary of a slain North Korean soldier.
The stick-figure diagram drawn in blue ink showed how North Korean soldiers fighting the war on behalf of Russia are trying to combat Ukrainian drones.
The notes said that one soldier should act as “bait” to draw the drone out, while his fellow troops can try to bring it down.
As per Business Standard, the North Korean soldier was named Gyeong Hong Jong.
Ukraine has been releasing excerpts of the diary for weeks.
As per Newsweek, the ploy requires a minimum of three people.
The soldier acting as ‘bait’ stays 23 feet away from the drone, while his comrades stay around 33 to 39 feet away.
The soldier remains in place to stop the drone from moving – hence luring it in and giving the other two a chance to bring the UAV down.
According to Daily Express, this tactic is extremely hazardous to the life and limb of North Korean soldiers.
This is because many of Ukraine’s drones including their switchblade ‘kamikaze’ drones are loaded with explosives.
Ukraine's Special Forces said the North Korean soldier who wrote the diary died in a firefight with two of his comrades.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which published a translation of his notes, the diary reads, “If a UAV is spotted, gather in groups of three. One person must act as bait to lure the drone while the other two take aim and neutralize it with precision shooting. The bait must maintain a distance of seven meters from the drone. The other two should prepare to shoot down the drone from a distance of 10-12 meters. When the bait stands still, the drone will stop and it can be shot down.”
Business Standard also wrote that the soldier wrote how to dodge strikes.
The soldier in an excerpt said that North Korean troops were told to “disperse in small groups” if fired upon by artillery.
The soldier said he would return to the previous location where he hid because he believed artillery didn’t repeatedly hit the same spot.
Entries in the diary also displayed the soldier’s utmost loyalty to Kim Jong-Un.
“Even at the cost of my life, I will carry out the Supreme Commander’s orders without hesitation,” one entry states. “I will show the world the bravery and sacrifice of Kim Jong Un’s special forces.”
As per Business Standard, the soldier also admitted he was stealing things from Russia to sell and had been caught.
“While working in the barracks, I thought that no one was watching me and put the Russians’ things in my pocket,” the diary read.
“I will no longer trade in other people’s things. I will heroically advance in the forefront and destroy the enemy,” he added.
“It is currently unknown whether these are authentic North Korean tactics or whether they were taught this way by the Russians. But this tactic uses live bait,” the Ukrainian military’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) previously wrote on social media as per Newsweek.
Kyiv Post over the weekend reported that a video was shared on a Ukrainian military Telegram channel of a Ukrainian First Person View (FPV) drone taking incoming from a North Korean soldier.
The video, which was likely taken in Kursk, purportedly shows the North Korean soldier trying to shoot at the UAV.
The drone’s camera shows a small explosion.
Then, the soldier is shown lying on the ground with his face covered with blood.
The outlet quoted InformNapalm intelligence collective as putting out a video showing North Korean soldiers forcibly removing elderly Russian civilians from a home in the village of Mahnovka.
The military source said, “To avoid death from drones, they [North Koreans] decided to take cover with the local population and hide in their houses and drive the old grandparents out into the cold.”
In December, footage from Kursk showed North Korean troops being attacked by Ukrainian drones.
The soldiers were seen trying to shoot down the drones or swat them away with their rifles before fleeing in panic across open fields.
Why does it matter?
According to Newsweek, the development emphasises that North Korea and Russia are drawing closer particularly on defence.
Analysts view North Korea sending troops to Ukraine as a “significant escalation in the conflict.”
They worry that Moscow is giving North Korea advanced weaponry and technical expertise that could aid its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said North Korea is set to receive aging Russian MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets.
Business Standard quoted also experts as saying that North Korean troops could gain valuable insights from their experiences coming up against US and European equipment in Ukraine particularly drones.
The outlet quoted Western and South Korean intelligence as saying that North Korea had around 12,000 troops in Kursk.
Dorothy Camille Shea, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, told the outlet North Korea “is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology, and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbours.”
However, analysts previously told Newsweek that North Korean soldiers were not much more than “cannon fodder" on the battlefields of Ukraine.
“These human wave tactics that we’re seeing haven’t really been all that effective,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in December. “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses.”
“It remains deeply troubling that Putin has decided to use foreign troops on Russian soil to defend that soil, which is a historic move that hasn’t been done for decades,” Kirby added.
Ukraine over the weekend confirmed it captured two soldiers amid fighting in Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend put up images of two heavily bandaged North Korean soldiers in bunk beds.
One of the prisoners has bandaged hands and wrists, while the other wears a bloodied bandage around his jaw.
“Our soldiers have captured North Korean soldiers in Kursk. These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived, were taken to Kyiv, and are communicating” with Ukrainian security services, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskyy has claimed that 3,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in Kursk.
Zelenskyy previously wrote on X, “There is not a single reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin. And even after they do, Russia has only humiliation for them.
“This madness must be stopped—stopped by a reliable and durable peace, as well as Russia’s accountability for this cynical war.”
South Korea, on the other hand, says 1,100 North Korean have died.
Russia and North Korea have previously denied that any of Pyongyang’s soldiers are in Ukraine.
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
