North Korea is often commonly referred to as the “hermit kingdom,” but last year, it seemed as if the country was coming out of its shell. On June 19th, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a military treaty. According to the treaty, North Korea and Russia must “provide military and other assistance” if the other party “falls into a state of war due to armed invasion from an individual or multiple states”–—a provision that is relevant today in the ongoing war known as the Russo-Ukraine War. 

About 10,000 North Korean troops entered Russia in October to be trained by Russian forces in “infantry tactics, operating with unmanned aerial vehicles, artillery tactics, trench-clearing and the like,” wrote Jim Garamone, Reporter at the U.S Department of Defense. U.S Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the Russian forces are experiencing high losses and the North Korean soldiers are replacements. Out of the 10,000 troops that entered Russia about 1,000-3,000 soldiers have been killed. The Pentagon said that the North Korean troops are being employed in infantry roles on the border of Kursk—an area Moscow has been trying to recapture from Ukraine. 

North Korea has one of the largest military forces in the world with around 1.28 million active soldiers. However, the country has not had any recent combat experience. Despite this, Michael Madden, a North Korea expert from the Stimson Center in Washington, explained that the Korean People’s Army is trained specifically to “tolerate high levels of physical pain”, so even though they may not be able to efficiently fight, their high pain tolerance makes up for their weakness. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that Russia is treating the North Korean troops as “expendable,” sending the soldiers in “human waves.” In addition, Kirby reported that several North Korean troops took their own lives rather than surrendering to Ukrainian forces. Of the few soldiers Ukrainian forces were able to capture, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saw that most were severely wounded, suggesting it is possible that many of them had been killed by their comrades. However, Ukraine was able to capture two North Korean soldiers as prisoners, hoping to exchange them for Ukrainian prisoners in Russia. 

The military alliance between Russia and North Korea sparks benefits for both parties, though Russia’s benefits are more immediate. Since August 2023, North Korea has sent about 13,000 shipping containers to Russia to replenish Russia’s depleted munitions and weapons. As for North Korea, it is possible that the country will receive economic benefits and greater military-technical assistance. This alliance between the two countries plays to the narrative of a growing “axis of upheaval,” the idea that America’s adversaries are uniting to overturn global order. As tensions in the Korean peninsula worsen, it is possible for a new phase of instability to emerge. 

Information retrieved from Defense.gov, BBC, NBC News, and Brookings