North Korea's elite "Storm Corps" soldiers might be the pride of the communist country's People's Army, but a former comrade in arms is warning that they will be cannon fodder against hardened Ukrainian troops.
Hyunseung Lee spent 3 1/2 years with an artillery and reconnaissance battalion in the early 2000s. His time in the army included training for six months alongside the Storm Corps -- members of which are believed to have been deployed to Russia.
Amid reports that North Korean troops have already come under Ukrainian fire in Russia's southwestern Kursk region, the 39-year-old Lee warns that even Storm Corps troops are not prepared for such a battle.
"They're totally not ready," Lee told RFE/RL by telephone from the United States, where he has resided since defecting from North Korea a decade ago.
North Korean men are required to join the army at the age of 17, Lee said, and usually serve 10 years.
"They have never engaged in major conflict," Lee said of the troops sent to Russia. "They don't have real battle experience."
Storm Coming
Kyiv has said that 11,000 North Korean troops have already arrived in the Kursk region, which is partly occupied by Ukrainian troops who launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Russian territory in August.
Ukrainian military intelligence has reported that Russia has equipped North Korean soldiers deployed near the Ukrainian border with standard infantry weapons, including assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, and grenade launchers.
Pyongyang has adopted many of Russia's weapons systems, Lee says, offering some level of familiarity to North Korean troops.
But the troops sent to Russia have also received more advanced technology, according to Ukrainian intelligence, including night-vision and thermal-imaging devices as well as illuminated sights. And Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has been a deadly testing ground for modern weaponry, including combat drones and guided bombs and missiles.
Those could all pose problems for North Korean troops, who "don't really train with that equipment," Lee said. Their training since arriving in Russia has likely been "basic," Lee said, and in such a short time frame they "cannot master the drones and the high-tech equipment."
And that, Lee added, will leave the North Korean troops "vulnerable" to being "easily defeated or killed."
Vulnerable Position
Former Ukrainian officials have suggested they could suffer casualty levels of up to 90 percent.
"I would say that could be an accurate assessment. They are not well-trained, and it is a very unfamiliar environment for them," Lee said. "They have never been on foreign soil, and the Ukrainian military will use missiles and drones" against them.
Lee, who co-founded the Washington-based North Korean Young Leaders Assembly to foster the development of new leaders among North Korean defectors, has taken to social media to convince North Korean soldiers "that there is no reason for you to sacrifice your lives on a foreign battlefield."
Lee told RFE/RL that North Korea last sent troops to fight abroad in the Vietnam War, which ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces nearly 50 years ago. Since then, he said, North Korea has sent officers to African countries as trainers and advisers.
But Lee said the number of soldiers and officers who have gained such experience abroad is very small, and that the North Korean troops deployed in Russia will be in "a completely new situation."
Frontline Surprise
Lee said that all military movements are top secret in North Korea, so troops were probably not told they were being sent to Russia. Only once they arrived, he said, would they "realize they will be the ones on the front line."
Once there, Lee says, they would be able to draw on their minimal foreign-language education, including Russian and English.
"Very basic. For example: 'Stop!' or, 'Don't shoot!' or, 'You're surrounded!'" Lee said of the rudimentary battleground phrases taught to North Korean soldiers.
In a video message on social media, Lee reminded North Korean soldiers that they would not be fighting for their homeland, or even their families. And there would be virtually no financial incentive to fight.
While South Korean intelligence has reportedly said that Russia will pay North Korean soldiers $2,000 per month, experts and former soldiers like Lee say that money will go to the North Korean state.
"They won't be compensated," Lee said, adding that the troops are expected to follow North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's orders without question. "Their parents and family won't be compensated either," he said.
All things considered, Lee believes that the North Korean troops are "highly likely" to defect, something Kyiv has been encouraging them to consider with Korean-language offers of food and housing.
"If I were in the battlefield, what would be the most convincing message?" Lee said. "Voices like me, who was in the same situation, who wore the same uniform.
"I can tell them, in their own language, that you guys have been deceived by the regime, and the war is not worth fighting for."
