ENTIRE units of North Korea’s troops fighting for Vladimir Putin will desert as soon as they get to the frontline, a defector has claimed.
Hyun-Seung Lee, a soldier in the Kim army in the early 2000s, says the troops in Russia will be looking to escape the battle in Ukraine “from the beginning”.
APKim Jong-un meets with troops in March[/caption]
TelegramLeaked footage shows the North Koreans training in Russia[/caption]
TelegramIn one clip the soldiers appear to be practising speaking Russian[/caption]
He believes the troops are not ready for the frontline and will be used as “human shields” by Russian soldiers.
Kim Jong-un has sent his Storm Corps, the country’s equivalent of special forces, to fight for Vlad as his war continues to stall.
The 10,000-strong force is set to be used on the battlefield in the coming days as the Russian tyrant looks to claw back Kursk.
Questions have been raised about how well the Korean soldiers will fight having not seen combat since the Vietnam War and with the units armed, clothed, and run by the Russians.
Lee told The Sun the soldiers in North Korea will have been forced to go and they will be young, so they won’t be that committed to the fighting.
He said: “It will be individuals at first, but more like as time passes, I think there’ll be like a larger number of group defections, including officers.”
That’s because, Lee says, the Russians will likely treat them as “expendable” and even more poorly than their own troops.
He said: “Russian soldiers don’t respect them as their fellow warriors
“They will treat them as their human shields.”
Eventually, the North Koreans will realise the hierarchy and how they are being seen as “disposable” by the Russians and look to flee, Lee said.
He added: “I think they’ll die without any impact.
“Putin and Kim Jong-un would expect more from them… they won’t get the expected results.”
But North Korean soldiers could be thinking twice about defecting as it could see their families thrown in prison.
Pyongyang has a guilty by association policy; if the North’s soldiers are seen defecting by colleagues their families could be put in jail.
Lee said: “They would be socially not respected, there’s criticism [they would face] from the community and organisations.”
High-ranking families would likely face a more severe punishment if authorities knew their relative had fled.
But Lee, whose family fled Pyongyang in 2014, said some families might not even know their brother, son or father are in Russia fighting as North Korea keeps all troop movements secret.
The troops will be watched over by a Worker’s Party political officer who will administer two hours of ideological training a day.
Speaking of his own experience in ideological training, Lee said: “Mainly we are educated about Kim family’s history and the military policy.
Inside North Inside North Korea’s elite Storm Corp special forces
by James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
KIM Jong-un has sent his special forces soldiers to fight in Ukraine – known as the Storm Corps.
Storm Corps is made of 10 units, including a snipers unit, a light infantry unit, and a paratroopers unit, according to Lee HyunSeung.
Lee shot down the suggestion of whether they would be comparable to Western special forces.
He said North Korea didn’t have the equipment to continually train troops for combat as ammunition and bombs would need replacing.
Instead, they trained “for show” so they could march in parades or for propaganda videos.
Lee said those soldiers are drawn from North Korea’s working class and will be ambivalent about fighting for the regime.
He said: “They are just seeking food and then they’re seeking career advancement.”I’m sure nowadays, these, you know, young soldiers they don’t have like a real loyalty to the regime.
“They just got order command from the Supreme Commander, and then they have no choice but to, you know, move to Russia.”
“The main focus point is we have to sacrifice ourselves for the Kim family and the party, and the military.”
To the troops in Russia, that would mean teaching them to avoid Western psychological warfare techniques and preventing them from deserting.
He said: “So, [troops will be told] ‘don’t pick up any material from Ukraine government or in the South Korean language’ and ‘they [claims in the propaganda they hear] are all fake’, and ‘it’s not true’ if someone defects, or ‘if you’re arrested, you’ll be tortured’.”
But Lee believes the soldiers will be susceptible to any psy-ops the Ukrainian government uses to try and get troops to defect.
He added: “I would say, if Ukraine’s government conducts a psychological strategy against North Korean soldiers then the chances are really high [of defection] because they don’t have real motivation. It’s not for money, right? They are not getting paid.
“And obviously it’s [their motivation] not defending your country, and then your parents, and yourself. So it’s just that they are mobilised by the North Korean supreme commander Kim Jong-un.”
While Lee expects the North Korean troops to do poorly in Russia, if they did do well it could spur Kim to invade South Korea.
He said: “Kim Jong-un will have massive confidence. And then North Korean soldiers will be happy about their achievement in Russia and also if that’s the case, South Korea should be alarmed.
“It’s a higher possibility Kim Jong-un will make misjudgement against South Korea.”
ReutersPutin and Kim, pictured in June, are allies[/caption]
East2WestNorth Korean troops lined up at a Russian base before going to Ukraine[/caption]
East2WestKim’s troops seen being trained inside Russia[/caption]
It comes as Putin is understood to have amassed 40,000 of his soldiers and 10,000 North Korean troops as he plots to attack Kursk.
The Kremlin leader is set to try and claw back the area of Russia which Ukraine seized back in August.
Putin could begin the combined assault with Kim Jong-un’s troops sent to fight in just days, according to Ukrainian officials.
Vlad’s army has also been training the North Koreans in infantry tactics, artillery fire, and trench clearing.
Ukraine has built defences in the part of Kursk it occupies and could be able to hold on, officials say.
But Russia has been shelling and sending rocket attacks against the entrenched Ukrainians.
Up to 40 North Korean soldiers have already been killed during their first engagement with Ukrainian troops in Kursk.
One injured soldier, heavily bandaged and lying in what appears to be a makeshift hospital fumed at their Russian leaders.
He claims that he was told that they would be guarding infrastructure, but that the North Koreans were “betrayed” and were “sent on an assault in the Kursk region”.
The soldier added: “The Russians did not provide us with anything.
“They threw us into an assault without prior intelligence, without ammunition, without normal weapons.”
North Korea’s Storm Corps pictured in MoscowX
Hyun-Seung Lee is a North Korean defector