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In a case of "friendly fire" on the battlefield, North Korean troops deployed to fight against Ukraine have gunned down their Russian partners-in-arms after shooting in the wrong direction, according to reports.
Knewz.com has learned that the North Korean soldiers deployed in Ukraine have reportedly turned out to be poorly trained and inexperienced in warfare, and experts believe most of them are "unlikely to come back home alive."
The blunder made by North Korean troops was reported by a captured Russian soldier who recounted his experience fighting alongside Kim Jong-un's forces in the Kursk region of Russia.
Footage of the interview with the captive Russian soldier shows him narrating the circumstances under which the "friendly fire" incident occurred.
The soldier said that his unit, along with 10 of the North Korean troops deployed in Ukraine, were digging trenches in a forest when they fell prey to a Ukrainian assault.
However, during the crossfire, the North Korean soldiers seemingly mistakenly began firing at their Russian comrades instead.
"During the assault, the Koreans started firing at us... We tried to explain to them where to aim, but I think they shot two of our own," the captive Russian soldier recounted.
"I decided it was better to surrender in this situation than to be killed by our own bullet," he added.
It has been reported that the North Korean soldiers made the blunder a week after the nation's foreign minister Choe Son Hui vowed North Korea would "stand by" Russia until it achieves victory in Ukraine.
Reports have dubbed the incident the latest in a series of "frontline humiliations" for Vladimir Putin and his forces.
It is worth noting that the deployment of North Korean troops in Ukraine has rung warning bells in the global community as it threatens to raise political tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the wider Indo-Pacific region—including Japan and Australia.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte commented that Kim Jong-un deploying troops against Ukraine represents “a significant escalation” in the nation's involvement in the war and labeled it a “dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
He added that NATO is closely monitoring the situation and is "actively consulting" the matter within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with NATO's "Indo-Pacific partners."
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called the heightened military cooperation between the two nations a "provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe."
On the other hand, the military intelligence services of Ukraine released an audio clip believed to be of Russian soldiers complaining about having to fight alongside North Korean troops.
According to reports, Russian soldiers could be heard in the audio clip referring to Kim Jong-un's troops as "F------ Chinese" and quoting one of his fellow servicemen as saying, "Who knows what the f--- we're supposed to do with them."
It has been reported that North Korea has deployed 10,000 troops in the Ukraine war—marking the first time a foreign government has sent uniformed troops to support Russian war efforts.
The numbers reportedly include about 500 officers, a small number of generals, and members of the elite Storm Corps of the North Korean army.
The Guardian's Justin McCurry wrote in a recent analysis that the North Korean troops deployed in Ukraine are "inexperienced, poorly trained, and underfed."
"Depending on whom you ask, they are the boost that Russian forces need to make a significant breakthrough in Ukraine, or they are simple cannon fodder, destined for repatriation in body bags," McCurry noted in his analysis.
He pointed out that "not one of the young men drafted from Kim Jong-un’s regular army... has seen combat. And they will be fighting on unfamiliar territory, with new weapons and in uniforms bearing the flag of a country – Russia – they know little about."
According to reports, most of the North Korean soldiers deployed in the war are poorly equipped and underfed, making them prone to illnesses and malnutrition.
In his analysis, McCurry further pointed out:
"Most of [the North Korean troops'] wages will go directly to the regime – potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign currency that is rumored to form part of a deal Kim reached with Vladimir Putin this summer."
It is worth noting that North Korea stands to gain sophisticated military technology from Russia if it holds up its end of the bargain—providing significant support to Putin in his "Special Military Operation" in Ukraine.
However, experts have pointed out that it would be a losing bid for Kim if his troops end up incurring heavy losses in the war.
"Kim Jong-un is taking a big gamble... If there are no large casualty numbers, he will get what he wants to some extent. But things will change a lot if many of his soldiers die in battle," explained Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean army first lieutenant who is now head of the Seoul-based think tank World Institute for North Korean Studies.