North Korean troops deserting Ukraine frontline days after arrival

https://www.newsweek.com/north-korean-troops-deserting-ukraine-frontline-hours-after-arrival-report-1969726

35 Comments

  1. Ok-Improvement-3670 on

    Let me get this straight, NK transported hundreds of their citizens thousands of miles away from NK and their control into a free country near other democratic countries? Desertions and defections were expected.

  2. If I were a North Korean, I would accept the transfer to Russia, then desert and flee to Europe.

  3. “This is not as fun as executing civil servants with artillery rounds.” [spoken in North Korean]

  4. Blast K-pop at them and supply drop some choco-pies I’m sure we can get a lot more to defect

  5. Honestly 18 out of 10,000 is a lot less than I expected. I figured there’d be a mass exodus as soon as they hit Ukraine.

  6. I mean they can’t prove they are alive or dead. Russia doesn’t care about dead or injured troops.

  7. North Koreans haven’t had any real combat experience since the 50s. The soldiers going probably had no clue what they were getting into

  8. When they shipped out of NK they didn’t give them bedrolls to sleep in. They gave them body bags.

  9. Grand_Taste_8737 on

    Seems to be a good time to try and defect if they have the means. Back home the govt may just think they got killed in battle.

  10. Existing-East3345 on

    What luck being born in North Korea being forced to join their military and then being forced to go fight for Russia. Maybe if they get any luckier they can go fight in central Africa afterwards.

  11. One_Faithlessness146 on

    Imagine being starved and mistreated at such a level that they have to make sure you have family you care about just to be eligible for deployment. That’s wild.

  12. If you keep a bird in a cage for its entire life, it will fly away the first chance it gets.

  13. I imagine that if you’re an NK soldier and don’t return from your tour of duty in Russia, there’s three possible assumptions about what happened:

    – You voluntarily surrendered and/or deserted. In this case, you committed the worst imaginable crime against The Leader and the glorious people of the one and only Korea, which means your entire family is going to the gulag and/or be executed.
    – You were wounded and captured during battle or killed yourself for whatever reason. In this case, you were a coward and a lousy soldier, you’re a disgrace to the glorious people of the one and only Korea, which means your entire family is going to the gulag and/or be executed.
    – You were killed in battle. Slightly better than being captured because at least you fought to the death, but you still lost, i. e. you were a lousy soldier and a disgrace to the glorious people of the one and only Korea, which means your entire family is going to the gulag and/or be executed.

    Bottom line is, if you don’t come back, your entire family is going to the gulag and/or be executed either way. Now go have some fun in Russia and be sure to pick option #1 so at least *you* get to (maybe) live a better life.

  14. So… North Korea is formally in the war. If/when they are eliminated, NK will have a decision on its hand: additional troops or not.