North Korean Troops in Ukraine: Media Hype or a Desperate Sideshow?

5 min readOct 23, 2024

So, apparently, the big news is North Korea’s sending troops to Ukraine. Yeah, North Korea — because if there’s anyone you want backing you up in a war, it’s a bunch of soldiers from a country whose idea of cutting-edge technology is figuring out how to put a lightbulb in a potato. But the media, oh man, they’re all over this. They’re acting like Kim Jong-un is about to drop in with the cavalry and tip the scales in favor of Russia.

The Truth About North Korean Soldiers

Let’s get real for a second — North Korean troops in Ukraine? What are they going to do? Bore the Ukrainians to death with 50-year-old Soviet training manuals? These guys aren’t exactly the Navy SEALs. They’re poorly trained, underfed, and they probably think night vision is when you close your eyes and imagine what’s happening in the dark. Sure, there might be around 1,500 of them out there, but if these are the guys Putin’s calling for backup, that’s like hiring a broken umbrella to shield you from a hurricane.

Why the Hype?

But here’s where it gets good — because the media loves a good story. They see North Korea involved, and suddenly it’s “escalation,” “global risk,” and “a new phase in the conflict.” They make it sound like Kim Jong-un’s troops are going to swoop in and win the war for Russia. Reality check: North Korea is sending bodies, not soldiers. Russia’s using them because they’re running out of their own guys, and even the Wagner Group is probably laughing at this point.

The media? They’re feeding off this. They need that next juicy headline because “War Drags On as Usual” just doesn’t sell papers. Instead, we get, “North Korean Troops Join the Fight.” It’s more of the same — a whole lot of noise, but when you look under the hood, there’s not much there.

Russia’s Grab Bag of Foreign Fighters

Now, let’s not pretend Russia’s new foreign fighter strategy is some genius move. They’ve already got Chechens, Syrians, and now the North Koreans. It’s like they’re trying to build a Coalition of the Poorly Equipped. Sure, you can throw a bunch of these guys into the front lines, but at the end of the day, it’s just more cannon fodder. It’s not like they’re bringing in the Avengers. This is the Russian equivalent of “Help Wanted: No Experience Necessary.”

What It Really Means

So, what does all this mean? Well, it means North Korea is getting in on the action to secure a nice little arms deal or some tech from Russia. But militarily? It’s a joke. It’s symbolic at best, like that weird guy who shows up to the party, stands in the corner, and just kinda… exists. You don’t notice him until someone asks, “Wait, why is he here?”

The real takeaway is that Russia’s in trouble. They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, and the media’s giving them a lot more credit than they deserve. North Korea sending troops to Ukraine isn’t a game-changer — it’s a sideshow. But that’s not gonna stop the headlines, because that’s how the media works. They take a whole lot of nothing and turn it into something, because nobody pays attention to boring old reality.

So, What’s the Verdict?

At the end of the day, North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine is just another footnote in a much bigger, messier story. It’s not about North Korea suddenly being some military powerhouse — it’s about how desperate Russia is, and how the media loves to inflate anything they can for a better headline.

The real question isn’t how many North Koreans are in Ukraine, but how long this charade can go on before we all realize it’s just smoke and mirrors.

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