Some 18 North Korean soldiers are believed to have deserted the Russian frontline, with Kremlin fighters reportedly searching for them.

The troops were deployed in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, about four miles from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine, Suspilne, reported.

Intelligence officials cited by the broadcaster said the Russian military is searching for the North Korean soldiers, while commanders are trying to conceal the desertion from their higher-ups.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    What Russia likes about North Korean Soldiers in Ukraine: Manpower!

    What North Korea likes about North Korean Soldiers in Ukraine: Money!

    What North Korean Soldiers like about North Korean Soldiers in Ukraine: Freedom!

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      And the amount of fuckin tankies on lemmy who hold NK up as some ideal to be achieved is insane

  • elliot_crane@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Fake signing up to commit war crimes in a sovereign nation and then use your deployment to escape the autocratic pariah state you lived in? Honestly that’s based af - good luck NK defectors!

    • MCasq_qsaCJ_234
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      1 month ago

      An opportunity for North Koreans who do not work in embassies to leave their country more easily.

  • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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    1 month ago

    Lmao so their plan is basically to escape NK. Really hope their family is safe but then it’s a dictatorship…

  • Lung@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Is it still called slavery if the farm is “very big” and the boss has nukes?

  • ddplf@szmer.info
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    1 month ago

    I’m happy for them, they probably indended it from the start - after all, what better way to escape probably the most isolationist totalitarian country on earth?

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    With how weirdly their army works, I doubt they have any chance in active warfare. Even if they didn’t plan fleeing, they are worse than cannon fodder, and deserting is the only thing they can probably do.

  • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Hm. Perhaps you don’t need to waste explosives on the N Koreans, just shell them with Choco-Pies, K-pop and notes that say any surrendering N Korean soldier will, after a brief interrogation, be given a plane ticket to S Korea.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      The problem is reprisal of whatever family the deserting solder has at home.

      The amount of control that the North Korean government has over the lives of everyday citizens is something that Trump and the alt right masturbate to.

      • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        If they are sent to (or have chosen to be sent to) active warfare they aren’t the top crop and probably already in the lower caste. And, if you think about it, if the dissenting mood took place in their particularly caring family, they’d be happy to disown and carry a burden of their child who fleed. And if they aren’t, their boy can allow himself to stop giving a fuck.

    • Match!!@pawb.social
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      1 month ago

      i think they’d want to have their deaths faked and then be given asylum in some third country where people won’t know they’re from n korea

  • BilliamBoberts@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    The Ukrainian army should just drop leaflets written in Korean that say “defect and we will feed you” I’m sure they’d all drop their weapons and run across no man’s land.

  • zante@lemmy.wtf
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    1 month ago

    What could possibly motivate Ukraine to allege opposition forces are deserting ?