A diary entry of a North Korean soldier deployed to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war has revealed how Pyongang’s troops are being used as “drone bait“, as “cannon fodder” in the brutal war. Wall Street Journal reported that on one notebook page, there is a pen drawing of a stickman soldier breaking cover to attract the attention of a Ukrainian drone while two fellow soldiers hide in the background to shoot the drone down. ‘When the bait stands still, the drone will stop and it will be shot down,’ the soldier wrote beneath the image. As instructed, the human bait should stand within seven meters of the drone
The diary, which was discovered on December 21 and has now been authenticated by experts, belonged to a young soldier who died in a firefight alongside two comrades, Ukraine’s Special Forces said. It was released a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed his forces had captured two North Korean soldiers.
A South Korean legislator said some 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed while fighting in Russia’s war. Zelensky says he is willing to hand over two captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. “For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available,” Zelensky said on X. Those who want “to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in Korean will be given that opportunity”, he added.
North Korean 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 are worth little to their higher-ups.
‘The North Koreans have a “meat grinder” strategy. Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, they just use people,’ he told the Times. ‘They just walk in single file, three to four metres from each other, if one is blown up, then the medics go behind to pick up the dead, the crowd continues one after another. That’s how they pass through minefields.’
Leopard said that the soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un often refuse to be taken alive, preferring to be killed in battle or to simply run as their commanders stand by unfazed.
