Despite the evidence that has multiplied over the past two weeks, Moscow refuses to confirm the evidence. On Wednesday October 30, Ukraine's representative to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya assured that nearly 12,000 North Korean soldiers were being trained in Russia, including at least 500 officers and three generals. A number close to that put forward by the Pentagon, which estimates the number of North Korean soldiers currently stationed on Russian territory at 10,000. “Hollow, fallacious assertions, without proof”, replied the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassili Nebenzia. However, videos, photos and audio recordings demonstrate the presence on Russian soil of North Korean soldiers, who could enter the conflict in the coming days.
Four videos point to the Russian training camp at Sergeevka, about a hundred kilometers from North Korea. These images, which date back at least ten days, corroborate information from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which mentioned on October 24 in a publication on its Telegram channel the stationing of North Korean troops in five localities, including Sergeevka: “Training of soldiers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Army arrived in Russia is carried out on five military training grounds: Ussouriisk, Ulan-Ude, Ekaterinoslavka, Knyaze-Volkonskoe and Sergeevka.”
The first two videos come from the pro-Russian Telegram channel Astra and were broadcast on October 22. In the first video, we can see around ten men of Asian appearance, under the porch of a building with a green reflection. “Here they are. Guys from North Korea,” describes the man filming, according to a translation of New York Times. According to the American daily, which cites military analyst Dmitry Kuznets, the individuals are wearing the Russian all-season field uniform, manufactured by the Russian company BTK Group. Contacted by CheckNews, certified translator Eunoh Yoon Silvy certifies that they “express themselves in a North Korean tone.”
“The allies have arrived”
In a second video clip, the same narrator – he has the same voice – approaches a building with similar characteristics as in the previous video. This one is white and green, with a porch around which many people in military fatigues are gathered. “Here they are, the guys from North Korea. The allies have arrived, he rejoices.
The two videos are geolocated in this Sergeevka base, on the territory of the garrison of the 127th Russian motorized rifle division.
In another video released by the Ukrainian government agency Spravdi on October 18, men in green fatigues collect equipment while advancing single file into a building. The agency says they are North Korean soldiers preparing for deployment to the Sergeevka training camp.
If Spravdi did not wish to provide the original video file to the New York Times, the daily claims that the windows of the building closely resemble those seen on a building adjacent to the military barracks, where North Korean soldiers were filmed. Here too, translator Eunoh Yoon Silvy, consulted by CheckNews, attests that the men speak Korean with a Northern accent.
The supplies are unpacked from boxes that bear the logo of the company BTK Group, the supplier of uniforms to the Russian army. Dmitry Kuznets, quoted by the New York Times, identifies sleeping bags, jackets, pants, shirts and suspenders.
“There are millions of them here”
A fourth video broadcast on October 18 by the pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel Para Pax is still geolocated at Sergeevka by the collaborative network GeoConfirmed. We see several dozen soldiers in Russian uniform, backpacks and weapons in hand, running in front of a concrete barrier. According to a translation of Washington Post, a first man breathes “here they are”, in Russian. “Okay, we’re not supposed to film them,” another voice warns. “There are millions of them here,” exaggerates the first. Eunoh Yoon Silvy can't make out the soldiers' language, but according to GeoConfirmed, they speak Korean.
Note that other videos relayed by pro-Russian Telegram channels wrongly designate soldiers of Asian appearance as North Korean soldiers. According to the translator, these people “do not speak North Korean at all, but another language, perhaps Uyghur.”
One interpreter for 30 North Koreans
In addition to these images, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Telegram account released three audio recordings in which Russian voices can be heard talking about North Korean soldiers. According to the ministry, these audios are interceptions of Russian radio communications. In one of them, relayed on October 27, we hear two voices, probably police officers, discussing a civilian transport truck loaded with North Korean soldiers. “The problem is solved, [le chauffeur du camion] helps infantry fighting vehicles transport Koreans”, concludes one of the two police officers at the end of the exchange.
Another audio recording transcribes a discussion between Russian soldiers engaged on the Kursk front, intercepted on October 23, according to Ukrainian intelligence. The soldiers discuss their doubts about the supervision and reception given to military personnel from North Korea, whom they describe under the code name “battalion K”, then at another time “fucking Chinese”.
“The only thing I don't understand is that you need 3 senior officers for 30 people. Where are we going to find them?” asks one of the Russian soldiers in another extract. We also learn that they were asked to find an interpreter for 30 North Korean soldiers. In the extract, one of the soldiers laughs, “brother, we are already fucking translators”. According to the analysis carried out by CNN, North Korean troop movements were planned for the morning of October 24, at the Postoyalye Dvory military camp in Russia's Kursk region.
In a final audio recording, still provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, we hear a Russian soldier getting annoyed at having to provide six armored vehicles to North Korean soldiers. Near his commander, he insults one of his colleagues, Léon: “I want to kill him today, yes, after the Koreans. Is this possible?”
Russian military uniforms and counterfeit ID cards
Before the circulation of these videos and audio recordings, South Korean intelligence services had broadcast satellite images of North Korean troop movements in Russia on October 18. Their report thus mentions a Russian naval transport from October 8 to 13, which made it possible to move 1,500 members of the North Korean special forces to Vladivostok, in Russia.
There is also mention of numerous round trips of planes between Vladivostok and Pyongyang. According to South Korea, these North Korean soldiers are stationed in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk to be trained before being sent to the front against Ukraine.
The South Koreans specify that the North Koreans received “Russian military uniforms as well as counterfeit identity cards of residents of the Yakutia and Buryatia regions of Siberia, which have an appearance similar to that of North Koreans.”
Before sending these North Korean soldiers, “elite troops” according to the Washington Post, military cooperation between North Korea and Russia was already very close. Since the two countries signed an agreement in June, North Korea has provided 8 million artillery shells and rockets to support the Russian war effort. North Korean engineers and officers were already present on the Ukrainian front from the beginning of October.
Still, the sending of a significant number of North Korean soldiers to Ukraine marks an important step in the escalation of the war. For the American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, “This is a very, very serious problem, and it will have repercussions not only in Europe, but also in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Thursday October 31, during a press conference with the latter and his South Korean counterparts, American Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that 8,000 North Korean soldiers – out of the 10,000 who would be present in Russia – were now deployed in the Kursk region, close to the Ukrainian border. A figure which reflects a spectacular increase compared to the day before. Lloyd Austin estimated on Wednesday that only “a few” troops had moved into the area. A signal announcing an imminent entry into conflict. “We have not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we expect this to happen in the coming days,” Antony Blinken said Thursday.
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