By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-04 21:51:22 | Updated at 2025-03-05 02:35:16
5 hours ago
You send the flower of your nation’s youth to fight another’s war. Thousands are cut down. Might you think again? Not if you are North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Last Thursday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Pyongyang had dispatched additional forces – up to 3,000, according to press reports – to join the 12,000 or so aiding Russia’s war on Ukraine. This followed January reports that North Korean troops had vanished from the front after heavy losses. Some thought Kim had reconsidered.
Instead, he is doubling down. Not just with fresh soldiers, but more weapons too. Kyiv’s defence intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said last month Pyongyang was supplying half of Russia’s “frontline ammunition needs”, including Koksan 170mm self-propelled guns, multiple rocket launch systems and KN-23 ballistic missiles.
Arms supply makes some sense, given Kim is cash-strapped and Moscow no doubt pays well. Even so, with North Korea’s munitions factories working at full pelt to support Putin, some in Pyongyang may worry this leaves their front line vulnerable.
Weapons are one thing, men another. Ukraine says one-third of the 12,000 North Korean troops originally deployed to Kursk are hors de combat, or fallen soldiers. Seoul’s NIS has slightly lower figures: it reckons 300 killed and 2,700 wounded. Other estimates run much higher. Whatever the exact number, these are huge losses.
Is the game worth the candle? It’s hard to see how – or how long North Korea can go on taking casualties on this scale. Or indeed why.
