North Korea Sends Military Pilots to Russia

22 October, 2024 DPRK military personnel in front of a MiG-29 aircraft. Photo: warfor.me North Korea has sent military pilots to Russia, who have to learn how to pilot Russian combat aircraft.

Newsweek, citing informed sources, reported that Russia may use them in the war against Ukraine. Previously, a South Korean official stated the DPRK sent pilots to Vladivostok in September, before sending its ground troops in early October. Journalists sources also link the arrival of North Korean pilots to possible training on operating new aircraft that Moscow plans to supply to the DPRK.

"This may be the first time North Korean pilots have participated in combat since the Vietnam War," reads the article.

A DPRK soldier and a Su-25 aircraft. Photo: warfor.me

According to U.S. intelligence, the DPRK itself has more than 900 combat aircraft. The most modern of these are Su-25 attack aircraft and MiG-29 fighters.

The Russian army is also actively using Su-25s in the war with Ukraine and has already lost many of them. A U.S. intelligence report states that due to fuel shortages and concerns about the aging of the aircraft, North Korean Air Force pilots receive only 15-25 hours of flight time per year. This makes them insufficiently trained.

Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that officers from the DPRK are already in Donbas, where they are training together with the Russian military.

Illustrative photo on the topic: DPRK / North Korea

He cited intelligence reports that the Kremlin is going to recruit 10,000 North Korean soldiers to participate in the war to partially compensate for the high losses and avoid a new mobilization in Russia.

As a reminder, South Korean intelligence says it has identified a North Korean missile engineer who participated in the launch of ballistic missiles into Ukraine.