A tragic diary entry from a North Korean soldier deployed to fight in the war between Russia and Ukraine has revealed how Pyongyang’s forces are being used as drone bait.
The dead man’s written notes, published by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, describe how North Korean soldiers are being used as cannon fodder in the brutal war.
On a notebook page, a pen drawing shows a stickman soldier breaking cover to attract the attention of a Ukrainian drone, while two fellow soldiers hide in the background to shoot him.
“If the bait stands still, the drone will stop and be shot,” the soldier wrote under the image. The Wall Street Journal.
The drone tapping instructions also detailed how the “human bait” must be within seven meters of the drone, which will then be “neutralized with precision shooting.”
The diary, discovered on December 21 and now verified by experts, belonged to a young soldier who was killed along with two comrades in a firefight, Ukrainian Special Forces said.
It was released a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that his forces had captured two North Korean soldiers.
Another entry in the diary describes how the young soldier was homesick for his parents and how he had celebrated his friend’s birthday.
On a notebook page, a pen drawing shows a stickman soldier breaking cover to attract the attention of a Ukrainian drone, while two fellow soldiers hide in the background to shoot him
The diary, which was discovered on December 21, has now been declared authentic by experts
North Korean soldiers still have to learn how to use drones. Pictured above is a North Korean soldier who was filmed by a Ukrainian drone
“Longing for my homeland, after leaving the warm embrace of my dear father and mother, here on Russian territory I celebrate the birthday of my close comrade Song Ji Myong,” he wrote.
The diary also revealed a devotion to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“Even at the cost of my life, I will carry out the commander-in-chief’s orders without hesitation,” the diary’s author wrote.
The US estimates that 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to fight for Russia – about 4,000 of whom have already been killed on the battlefield, according to Zelensky.
The soldiers are also being used as ‘human mine detectors’ according to Lieutenant Colonel ‘Leopard’ of Ukraine’s 33rd ‘Big Cats’ Battalion, who revealed that their lives have little value to their higher-ups.
“The North Koreans have a ‘meat grinder’ strategy. Where Ukrainians use a mine clearance vehicle, they only use people,” he told the newspaper Times.
‘They just walk in a line, three to four meters apart, if one is blown up, the medics go after it to pick up the dead, the crowd moves on one after the other. This is how they pass minefields.’
Leopard said the soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un often refuse to be captured alive, preferring to be killed in battle or simply run away as their commanders watch unfazed.
Drone footage captured last month shows Russia’s meat grinder tactic in action, with two dozen North Korean soldiers slowly jogging in clusters toward the Ukrainian front line across an open, snow-covered battlefield as part of “suicidal charges.”
The US estimates that 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to fight for Russia – about 4,000 of whom have already been killed on the battlefield
Macabre image is believed to include dead North Koreans killed fighting for Russia in the Kursk region
Faces of North Korean soldiers revealed in first close-up videos as they fight for Putin in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine
They did not try to take cover, which “was like a dream for our mortars and machine guns,” Ukrainian veteran Vitaliy, 35, told police. Times.
Vitaliy fought in the Battle of Bakhmut, where waves of Russian murderers and rapists were sent to their deaths as apparent cannon fodder.
‘The Wagner group had a simple order: advance or die. It seemed exactly the same to the Koreans,” he said.
Another dark clip showed a line of what was believed to be the bodies of Pyongyang soldiers lying in blood-covered snow next to slain Russians after their troops were virtually wiped out.
Ukrainian and South Korean officials say the North Koreans have proven to be a liability to Russian forces due to their outdated battlefield tactics, while inexperience with drone warfare makes them easy targets for Kiev’s battle-hardened warriors.
But Leopard said that while North Korean soldiers are not nearly as heavily armed as their Russian counterparts, that will change the longer they are involved in the war.
“North Koreans only use small arms, machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, maximum – that is the extent of their technology,” he said.
‘They don’t use drones yet, only the Russians. But I suspect they are starting to learn this, and the longer the war goes on, the more likely they are to innovate,” he added.
A North Korean soldier is seen hiding from a Ukrainian drone
The Khorne Group – an organization affiliated with Kyiv’s armed forces in the 116th Separate Mechanized Brigade and the 95th Air Assault Brigade – shared images of what appeared to be North Korean soldiers stunned by a Ukrainian FPV drone overhead
Ukraine’s special forces claimed to have killed 77 North Korean soldiers in three days
The first North Korean prisoner of war has been captured by Ukrainian forces, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed on December 27, 2024
This comes after President Zelensky stated that Russian forces “burned the faces” of dead North Korean soldiers to hide their identities, sharing macabre images to illustrate his claim.
Citing a South Korean intelligence report, MP Lee Seong-kweun said yesterday: “In December, they (North Korean troops) engaged in actual fighting, resulting in at least 100 deaths.
“The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to be close to 1,000.”
Despite these losses, the agency also said it had detected signs that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing to train a new special operations force to ship westward.
Lee noted that the Union’s elite Storm Corps – from which the initial deployment had emerged – “had the capacity to send reinforcements.”
The NIS also predicted “that Russia could offer mutual benefits” for a new deployment, including “modernizing North Korea’s conventional weapons.”