North Korean troops adopt all brutality and cruelty of Russian army; pose big threat to South Korea

Russia deployed a North Korean corps to Russia's Kursk region over the weekend, two months after deploying them to its territory. But North Korean troops are picking up bad habits from their Russian counterparts, writes columnist David Axe for The Telegraph .

For North Korea, it was a learning opportunity. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's army has not fought a major land war in seven decades. Yet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expects it to be able to defeat the extremely well-equipped South Korean army if tensions in the Korean Demilitarized Zone ever escalate into open war.

Russia's war against Ukraine is precisely the "school" for North Korea where the lessons of 21st century war are taught. The lessons are cruel and bloody, the author emphasizes.

"In 34 months of grueling war, the Russians have learned to trade huge amounts of human life for additional territorial gains. It's a terrible strategy, but not necessarily ineffective. The big question for the North Koreans is whether this approach would work in a ground war 4,700 miles away on the Korean Peninsula," Axe continued.

Russia lost thousands of armored vehicles in its war against Ukraine, so it was forced to change tactics - mechanized attacks with large numbers of vehicles became a rarity. They were replaced by infantry assaults.

Ukrainian think tank Frontelligence Insight says Russian forces are now probing Ukrainian defenses by sending in 1-2 soldiers. When they find a weak spot, these soldiers signal the need for more reinforcements, often a platoon or company. Moscow can afford to lose these small units daily, because the constant influx of new soldiers ensures that the pressure never lets up.

For the Kremlin, people are still a cheap resource, despite the huge losses in the war against Ukraine. Its soldiers are also a cheap resource for North Korea – at least for now. The other day, North Korean infantry attacked Ukrainian positions on foot, copying Russian tactics. North Korean forces suffered losses.

Whether such bloody tactics could work in the demilitarized zone between South and North is an open question. But there are several important differences between the war in Ukraine and a possible conflict on the Korean Peninsula. First, the Russians have a huge manpower advantage in Ukraine, and Ukrainian defenders often struggle with shortages of critical ammunition, especially artillery shells. Perhaps most critically, the Russian air component is dominant.

Along the demilitarized zone on the Korean peninsula, North Korea outnumbers its neighbor, but only by a two-to-one ratio. South Korea's forces, with their extensive and sophisticated weapons industry, are unlikely to run short of ammunition. And South Korea's state-of-the-art air force is vastly superior to North Korea's aging air force.

"By joining the war against Ukraine, the North Korean army is learning important lessons. But are they the right ones? And when the surviving fighters of the DPRK corps in Kursk return home and teach their peers the tactics of attrition, will they condemn those peers to die in senseless attacks against large, well-armed South Korean troops? We won't know until North Korea invades through the DMZ. But anyone expecting this war to be like the war in Ukraine is likely to be shocked," David Axe said.
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