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this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
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Why?
It isn't like North Korea has any technology or anything superior they should be afraid of falling into Ukraine's hands.
Their kit is junk and they don't know shit.
"if you get captured your family will be forced to break rocks" or something probably
How would they know you were captured and not dead?
When Ukraine reports you as a prisoner
I'm sure they're told stories of how they'd be horribly mistreated. They don't want them finding out that prisoners of war are generally treated humanely.
Brainwashed
No reason to believe what he says is true
Well, for starters... nobody really likes being tortured and caged indefinitely.
Pete Hegseth after his morning bender.
FTFY.
Hey! You take that back! They have very specific skills! For example, if someone wants to have a missile lobbed into the Sea of Japan, everyone knows to call North Korea!
Funny, I remember the same type of characterization at the beginning of the Kursk offensive.
"NK soldiers will be cannon fodder" "Theyre going to surrender" "They won't make a difference" "They have never seen electronics before, let alone a drone" "Theyre going to end up cannabilizing each other on the battlefield"
Turns out from the time the Korean soldiers arrived in October, it took them a mere 5 months to retake Kursk.
What is it - is the enemy weak or strong? By all accounts, the Koreans exceeded expectations in Ukraine.
The major difference North Korea made was in two things, the construction of general defensive lines which from the little I know North Korean troops tend to be quite competent at, and in providing an attempted replacement artillery backbone to russia because Ukraine had already irrevocably broken russia's. I wouldn't be surprised if a significant amount of russian artillery personnel now fighting on the frontline weren't actually trained from russians but from North Korean institutional knowledge given how severely and completely the russian military has burned through its institutional knowledge from everybody being killed in the maw.
None of that changes the fact that North Korea infantry, artillery and mechanized elements have no relevance on a modern battlefield in terms of learning how to fight with more advanced tools and tactics. North Korea knows how to pile on artillery and how to build good defensive emplacements, they do not know how to do mechanized maneuver against a near-peer foe using cutting edge technology and tactics, they are not a military well practiced at integrating Close Air Support and Recon elements with other elements in a killchain and most of the equipment they brought was existentially vulnerable to light drone attack (such as the obsolete Koksan and the extremely exposed North Korean MLRS systems that are featured in many videos being detonated by Ukrainian drones.)
I am sorry but russia has achieved nothing of significance since last October? They eventually took Pokrovosk but at the cost russia has paid and russia increasingly continues to pay every day this war goes on, the war is already over. The backbone of russia has been broken, North Korea could not make up for it though they honestly tried. The war will rage on for some time but there is simply no way russia can win it now and every single person condemned to death by russia continuing to refuse to admit it has already lost will be looked back on as a pointless, futile tossing away of human life.
This is a fringe opinion even among NATO people. By all accounts, the Korean infantry quickly adapted to the battlefield and were formidable enemies.
I am sure individually they did! That doesn't mean the North Korean military is relevant.
The Koreans are relevant according to Ukrainian soldiers and Zelenskyy himself.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/16/g-s1-71531/north-korea-soldiers-russia-ukraine-war-drones
[How North Korea Has Bolstered Russia’s War in Ukraine
North Korean troops and weapons have played an unexpectedly crucial role in sustaining Russia’s grinding military campaign in Ukraine. In exchange, Pyongyang has been able to upgrade its outdated Soviet-era military.](https://www.cfr.org/articles/how-north-korea-has-bolstered-russias-war-ukraine)
Again, the notion that the Koreans played an irrelevant role in the war is an extremely fringe opinion - not even supported by Ukrainians. Do you have a source that shows an officer from either side saying the Koreans were irrelevant? I implore you to leave the fantasy world and join us here.
I didn't say North Koreans themselves are irrelevant I said the North Korean military is essentially irrelevant outside the specific strengths I stated.
Do you think Korean infantry was irrelevant in Ukraine?
That's silly.
"Do you think X more troops are unimpactful?"
That's not what he's saying. He's saying their reason for detonation is pointless there is nothing that soldier has or knows that requires them to die.
North korea just sucks and really wants complete information control
In terms of impact on doctrine, in terms of infantry tactics and in terms of changing the status quo... beyond the two things I already mentioned, yes I think other than propping up a collapsing russia, North Korean forces have largely been irrelevant. They didn't bring anything new to the conflict beyond additional bodies to be thrown into the meatgrinder other than more artillery and a proficiency at building defensive emplacements. Name a single decisive tactic, weapon or event that North Korea has actually accomplished of note in the Ukraine War?
I am not saying that the numbers haven't helped russia, but yes the way North Korea goes to war is hopelessly out of date, and though it received technology and equipment from russia that has certainly helped update North Korea, all of the shit russia gave North Korea has already proven to be junk deathtraps in Ukraine anyways.
Cope. The Koreans were, and are, more formidable than any of the NATO people thought theyd be. Thats a fact.
It seems like your point is that unless you invent an entirely new battlefield tactic, that you're irrelevant? Again, the idea that the Koreans were, in any way, irrelevant in the Ukraine war is a fringe position that no one in a military position posits.
It seems like youre confusing "irrelevant" with "has weaknesses". You dont have to graduate from West Point to understand the Koreans had weaknesses.
My point is that North Korea proved they would get rocked if they actually committed to a landwar against a sophisticated foe with an actually modern military. Ukraine kicked their ass.
You wanna talk about Kursk? I might stop bragging about that if I were you, Kursk isn't going so well for russia lol.
I am glad North Korea captured some Leopards and Abrams tanks, that way people in North Korea can walk around them and at least see for themselves how full of shit their culture's propaganda is about having such a powerful military :)
I expect they signalled their desire to be detonated by running away from the battlefield and the Russians kindly obliged.