Russia recently released video footage for the first time showing North Korean troops participating in demining operations on the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war, drawing widespread international attention.
On November 14, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published video footage showing a North Korean engineering unit in blast armor chanting slogans and pressing their cheeks against the North Korean flag before a mission, a scene with strong political symbolism. Inside military vehicles, soldiers also sang songs praising "North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un as a great leader," demonstrating strong political loyalty.
This North Korean unit is currently conducting demining operations alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region.
According to the Russian side, the North Korean soldiers have not only mastered the relevant Russian terminology but have also become familiar with the latest demining equipment under Russian training and are capable of operational use.
Russian engineering commander Resnik said, "That's the moment a landmine explodes. That's true team spirit."
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Russia revealed that North Korean soldiers also underwent multiple battlefield emergency training exercises, including evacuating the wounded during combat and tactical maneuvers such as shooting down enemy drones. This indicates that North Korea has deployed not just "labor," but a combat-capable military unit.
Russia's proactive release of this video is widely seen as a deliberate attempt to showcase the deepening progress of military cooperation with North Korea. Observers believe this is not only a propaganda campaign to cultivate an image of "battlefield unity," but also an attempt to highlight that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty signed by Putin and Kim Jong-un in 2024 is moving from a diplomatic document towards substantive implementation.
Cho Han-beom, chief researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, analyzed that the way North Korean soldiers in the Russian media footage raise the national flag, swear oaths cheek-to-cheek, and sing praises to Kim Jong-un is highly consistent with the style of North Korean domestic propaganda. Russia is clearly using this to cater to North Korean propaganda, emphasizing close cooperation between the two sides and providing public opinion support for justifying North Korea's troop deployment.
Meanwhile, Ukraine remains highly vigilant regarding North Korea-Russia military cooperation.
Ukrainian military intelligence revealed that Russia plans to bring in a large number of North Korean laborers, estimated at 12,000, to its self-destruct drone production facilities by the end of this year. These laborers will earn only $2.50 per hour (approximately S$3.25) and must work at least 12 hours a day. This move has been criticized as deepening the trend of North Korea's "militarized labor export" and highlighting the "strategic transaction" nature of the relationship between North Korea and Russia.
According to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty signed by Russia and North Korea in June 2024, the two countries are continuously expanding their military, economic, and security cooperation. Last August, Russia, with the assistance of North Korean forces, recaptured the Kursk region, considered a key milestone in the "combat phase" of North Korea-Russia cooperation.
