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Tsutomu Nishioka

【#1279】North Korea Sends 70,000 More Troops for Russia’s War Effort

Tsutomu Nishioka ／ 2025.08.27 (Wed)


August 25, 2025

　
North Korea has sent an additional 70,000 combat troops to support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine since July, according to a reliable source connected inside North Korea. They are participating in battles waged by Russian military against Ukrainian forces within Ukrainian territory. During the same period, North Korea has dispatched additional 70,000 combat engineers and 60,000 civilian workers, the source said.

First engagement within Ukrainian territory

North Korea had sent to Russia a total of 35,000 combat troops before July, combining 15,000 dispatched in October 2024 and 20,000 in January this year, according to the source. They were deployed to Kursk region, located at the western edge of Russia and partly occupied by Ukrainian forces, significantly contributing to Russia’s recapture of the region. However, the South Korean government has described the number of North Korean troops sent to Kursk as 15,000, without mentioning subsequent deployments.

North Korea has positioned the dispatch of troops as the invocation of Article 4 of the North Korea-Russia Strategic Partnership Treaty signed in June last year. The article stipulates that if either of the two parties is in a situation of war due to an armed invasion by a third party, the other will provide military assistance. This article literally does not allow North Korean troops to take part in battles within Ukrainian territory. To date, neither North Korea nor Russia has admitted North Korean troops’ participation in the war since July.

Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea twice this year on June 4 and 17 and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. At the time, they agreed that 70,000 North Korean combat troops would participate in battles within Ukrainian territory and that North Korea would send 70,000 combat engineers and 60,000 civilian workers, my source said.

Accordingly, 70,000 North Korean combat troops and 70,000 combat engineers were dispatched from around July. North Korean combat troops are participating in the war on all fronts within Ukrainian territory. In order to prevent them from fleeing or being captured as war prisoners, however, they have been led to serve as artillerymen or drone operators on behalf of Russians in the rear without engaging in close combat with Ukrainian forces.

North Korea combat engineers, dispatched in civilian clothes, are engaging in construction works in Russia’s Kursk region and Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, but remain ready to change into military uniforms and participate in battle at any time, according to the source.

North Korea is preparing to send 30,000 more combat troops and as many more combat engineers if the war is prolonged further.

North Korea supporting a protracted war

The Ukrainian military intelligence service told Japan Broadcasting Corp. known as NHK in early July that North Korea would send an additional 25,000-30,000 troops. The actual number was far more than that, according to the information I obtained from the source. The background behind Russian President Vladimir Putin’s firm stance in negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump over peace in Ukraine lies in North Korean support of Russian forces by making up for the shortage of Russian troops with large-scale troop deployments, providing Russia with massive artillery shells and missiles, and, more recently, even starting the production of drones for Russia.

Tsutomu Nishioka is a senior fellow and a Planning Committee member at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a specially-appointed professor at Reitaku University. He covers South and North Koreas.