Why Might North Korea's Soldiers Struggle in Ukraine?

Imagine trying to work with a person who speaks a different language and has very different habits. Now, scale that up to tens of thousands of soldiers. That's what the British government thinks would happen if North Korea sent troops to help Russia in Ukraine. "Russian and North Korean forces might face problems working together, " the U. K. Defense Ministry said. The two countries have not done training exercises together before, so their troops might struggle to understand each other's plans and commands. Recent intelligence has suggested that North Korea plans to send between 10, 000 and 12, 000 soldiers to support Russia. The U. S. believes around 8, 000 are already on the border. "We haven't seen them in combat yet, but that could change soon, " U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Experts think that language and cultural differences might make it hard for North Korean troops to work well with Russian forces. "They might not be able to communicate smoothly at first, " explained Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. But there are some benefits too. North Korea's elite troops might give Russia a boost in manpower. And even though they're not familiar with Russia's weapons, they probably won't need much training to use them. Some of these soldiers might already be in a Russian region called Kursk. However, it's not clear how well they'll do in battle. "They might help push Ukrainian troops out of certain areas, " Yeo said. But it's also possible they'll struggle with Ukraine's terrain and weapons.

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