New Russian Video Reveals North Koreans Coaching With Trendy Weapons

Russia’s protection ministry launched a brand new video on Monday of North Korean troops coaching with trendy small arms used within the Ukraine warfare.

The 77-second montage, printed by state media outlet TASS, confirmed the troopers drilling hearth actions, capturing from cowl, clearing trenches, and being taught methods to use Russian commonplace service hand grenades.

Some troops could be noticed with the AK-12, a fifth-generation modular assault rifle that entered service in Russia round 2020. A number of of the rifles could be seen geared up with reflex sights and foregrips.

Again dwelling, North Korean troops are primarily identified to coach and combat with the Kind-88, a localized model of the Soviet-era AK-74 rifle.

Moreover, the clips function troopers coaching with the SVD sniper rifle, often known as the “Dragunov,” and the belt-fed PK machine gun.

One other clip confirmed a soldier dealing with an RPG-7, the rocket-propelled grenade launcher that Russia makes use of in service now. He fires a high-explosive anti-tank spherical from the weapon.

Notably, all of those small arms fall underneath the checklist of weapons and tools that Ukraine’s army intelligence mentioned Russia was offering to North Korean troops in November 2024.

The footage additionally confirmed a soldier firing into the air with a semiautomatic 12-gauge shotgun often called the Vepr-12, which could be seen geared up with an prolonged choke. This muzzle attachment is usually used to show the shotgun into an anti-drone weapon as a result of it reduces pellet unfold and extends the gun’s vary.

Each Ukrainian and Russian troops have been identified to depend on shotguns to take down drones at shut vary. TASS wrote that North Korean troops had been coaching with the 12-gauge shotguns for this function.

The state media outlet additionally wrote that the troopers within the clip had been a part of North Korea’s power in Kursk, the place Pyongyang had despatched hundreds of troops to bolster Russia. Enterprise Insider couldn’t independently confirm the authenticity of that declare.

Russia and North Korea’s alliance poses issues for the West

The brand new clip comes after Russia and North Korea each overtly acknowledged final weekend that North Korean troops had been preventing towards Ukrainian forces, after months of staying silent on the matter regardless of mounting proof of Pyongyang’s involvement.

Their partnership has sparked alarm within the West and South Korea, who worry that North Korean troops could also be gaining important fight expertise and studying to combat with and towards trendy weapons and drones.

Many of those troopers had been despatched on floor infantry assaults that usually resulted in loss of life or heavy damage. This tactic has change into a trademark of Russia’s technique to exhaust Ukraine’s sources. Preliminary experiences from the entrance traces described Pyongyang’s troops as unprepared, not realizing methods to cope with exploding drones and taking heavy losses.

However there are indicators they have been adapting, comparable to a drawing that Ukraine mentioned it obtained from a captured North Korean fighter detailing methods to bait out a drone utilizing a fellow soldier. North Korean troops are seemingly additionally getting their first likelihood to look at Ukraine’s use of superior weapons comparable to HIMARS and the Abrams tank.

On the battlefield, they’ve proved way more tenacious than their Russian counterparts, charging in frontal “human wave” assaults and advancing with out armor assist. Ukrainian troops have mentioned they struggled to seize North Koreans as a result of the latter would typically attempt to kill themselves relatively than give up.

A US State Division spokesperson informed media shops earlier this week that Washington was nonetheless involved by Pyongyang’s troop deployment, saying that third international locations like North Korea “perpetuated the Russia-Ukraine warfare” and bear accountability.