this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024
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Summary

North Korean troops sent to Russia to support its war in Ukraine remain sidelined due to poor training and logistical issues, according to Western officials.

These soldiers are expected to relieve Russian troops in secondary positions to free up forces for frontline battles in regions like Kursk, though they are unlikely to see combat in eastern Ukraine.

The war continues to take a massive toll, with over 700,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded since February 2022, while both sides face challenges replacing losses.

Russia’s reliance on poorly trained recruits and prison conscripts highlights its growing manpower issues.

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[–] samus12345 46 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

They're poorly trained by Russian standards? That's impressively bad!

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[–] [email protected] 108 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Man if Russia is telling you your troops are unfit for battle, you know your troops are absolute fucking garbo.

[–] Cypher 17 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It could be the opposite, the Russians are so poorly trained they don’t recognise viable tactics that aren’t human waves.

[–] scarabic 2 points 4 days ago

“It could be” covers a LOT so I’m going to give this one to you ;D

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[–] [email protected] 99 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That's what happens when you train for theatrics

[–] AdamEatsAss 44 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Are you telling me there's more to war than military parades?

[–] scarabic 2 points 4 days ago

Of course. What about the razzle dazzle?

[–] postmateDumbass 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Monkey bars. Lots of monkey bars.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Man there's a lot of things I forgot about growing up in the 00's, but "frantically talking heads beside 10-second looping footage of dudes on monkey bars in the middle of the desert" was definitely more a part of it than it should have been lol.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Also, probably malnourished. They may have gotten decent rations since they were conscripted (North Korea has a “military first” policy), but up until then they would have grown up with a calorie deficit.

[–] kamenlady 33 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Exactly, if you grow up with a calorie deficit , you don't develop the way you should have. This is not something you can revert by suddenly eating decent food.

[–] MutilationWave 26 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Just because they're 4'6" and have bones the density of plywood doesn't mean they can't shoot right?

Meanwhile at the range- Holy shit his arm came right off!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

My heart hurts for how tough it is for those people...

...but this made me laugh out loud more than I care to admit lmao.

[–] scarabic 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Can you actually grow up with a calorie deficit? That term means burning more calories in the day than you take in. You can’t do that your whole life.

[–] kamenlady 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm no expert, but i suppose there isn't really much grow when growing up with a deficit.

Calorie deprivation on the other hand...

[–] scarabic 2 points 3 days ago

I guess I’m bringing my own associations to it. I’ve dieted for weight loss where deficit meant intake versus burn. But I guess there’s no reason deficit couldn’t also mean intake versus healthy required amount.

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[–] Aceticon 33 points 5 days ago (3 children)

They discovered Porn when they got to Russia and have been chronically exhausted ever since...

[–] WhatYouNeed 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Developed huge muscles in one arm

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Prefect for grenade throwing.

[–] GreenKnight23 3 points 5 days ago

more like rock throwing. I doubt they have many grenades left. the drones keep stealing them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

And no matter how hard they try, they can't fire off more than a dozen shots per day.

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[–] TheBat 33 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Who can blame them

[–] [email protected] 36 points 6 days ago (2 children)

More poorly trained than a convict 2 weeks out of prison? Doesn't seem possible...

[–] hesusingthespiritbomb 16 points 5 days ago (9 children)

There's probably a base level of competence someone who grew up in modern society has without training that the North Koreans don't have.

Like even if a convict has never operated a drone, there's probably a good amount of them that have played FPS games. That experience can be used as a launching board into proper training.

Meanwhile the North Koreans might have absolutely zero experience with video games and smartphones, and extremely limited experience with computers in general. There's so much you'd have to teach them before you can even start drone training.

[–] Madison420 3 points 5 days ago

Unfit for battle probably means starving

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[–] BleatingZombie 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I feel like tv and movies do more than we think for giving a base-layer of military training. I'm not saying it's LIKE military training, but people have at least seen what they're going to do before training

[–] TotesIllegit 7 points 5 days ago

Training people can be harder when the trainees have to unlearn bad habits or knowledge. Ask anyone who has tutored previously self-taught students an artform or craft.

In some ways, media exposure can help to introduce broad concepts, and sometimes there are excellent examples in media (My Cousin Vinny and Legally Blonde have been used in some US law school course curriculum to show how the parts of the judicial system are supposed to operate, iirc), but oftentimes preconceived notions can hinder training for the real thing.

[–] chonglibloodsport 25 points 5 days ago

Imagine the Russian commander’s surprise when he realized North Koreans don’t know anything about StarCraft!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Who knew practicing to be a Rockette wouldn't prepare you for combat lmao.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Bro I don't think you understand the real power of dance

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[–] polysics 8 points 5 days ago

Well yeah, when they're just cranking the hog and eating food for the first time, what did they expect?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I thought they had already been getting killed fighting in Ukraine? I haven't followed the news too closely recently though so I'm probably wrong, just seen some headlines around the place.

[–] Furbag 5 points 5 days ago

I had thought so too. Apparently there have been a bunch of false reports on them being involved in fighting. Which makes sense, because their involvement in this conflict was entirely political theater to begin with - they were sent over to try and scare the western allies into backing down or else risk a wider global conflict. USA and others called their bluff and the NK soldiers have been sitting in Russia ever since. They can't fight and they almost certainly don't speak any Russian or have enough translators to be an effective assault force in a combat scenario.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

IIRC the NK soldiers have been fighting (and dying) in the Ukrainian occupied parts of Russia, and haven't been deployed to the Russian occupied parts of Ukraine yet.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Yet the article clearly states that they haven’t fought yet? Which is it?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Fog of war and all, so I'm guessing no one knows, but here's my take: This is more recent so it's probably more true that they haven't actually been fighting yet. IIRC those rumors before of them fighting has only been coming from South Korea and Ukraine. Ukraine, while I support them, clearly has a biased motivation to seem as outnumbered and out-gunned as possible to express a need to their allied nations to give them more weapons, and even to try to get them to join the war themselves. South Korea's bias is pretty obvious. Neither offered much physical evidence except I think a flag they found.

The US is also biased, but are a step removed, so I believe their intelligence on this topic more than either of those two until we get something even more recent and clear. Also it's hilarious to me imagining them being worse than Russian convicts lol.

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[–] kamenlady 19 points 6 days ago (7 children)

Must be a fucking wird ride for these soldiers. First porn and now learning that you actually have been fucked by your own government by not even training you the way you are supposed to be trained.

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[–] scarabic 2 points 4 days ago

It would be… something if the NK troops fucked up and killed a bunch of Russians with friendly fire. The Russians would slaughter them to a man in anger. And then… 🍿

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago

Never stopped him before

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