Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia?

While North Korea has been supplying Russia with weapons for some time, the arrival of troops is a major escalation in its involvement in the war in Ukraine.

The first official evidence of large numbers of North Korean troops entering Russia was provided by the South Korean government, which issued a press release last week highlighting the increasingly close military cooperation between the two states.

According to the press release, an initial contingent of 1,500 North Korean special forces troops were transported on Russian naval vessels to the port city of Vladivostok.

The South Koreans have provided two high-resolution satellite images showing what they say are these troops in two locations in Russia.

The first shows a crowd of what the South Korean government estimates to be 400 people gathered in an open space at a Russian military site near the city of Ussuriysk, 98 kilometers north of Vladivostok.

The second image shows a smaller number of people, which the South Korean government says are around 250 North Korean soldiers.

This image was taken further north than the first. It shows an area that appears to be a military site near the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East.

Footage circulating online

Amid reports of North Koreans entering Russia, several videos have been widely circulated.

Although Sky News cannot confirm that it shows North Korean troops, one shows a group of East Asian-looking soldiers. The person filming the video claims to be North Korean, referring to them as “allies”.

This video has been geolocated by Sky News to the Russian Far East town of Sergeyevka.

A second video shot nearby shows a group of soldiers training in a field in the same place.

Shot from over a wall, the footage is too grainy to allow the soldiers to be visually identified, however many have claimed it shows North Korean troops.

A third video, released by the Ukrainian government, shows troops being equipped. Although it is not possible to geolocate these images, the presence of boxes marked in Russian has been cited as evidence showing North Korean troops in Russia.

What satellite images can tell us

Although currently available video does not tell the full story, more can be learned from satellite imagery.

An image captured by Maxar of the site in Sergeyevka shows the sudden appearance of ditches on the base’s grounds in early October.

Later in the month, equipment can be seen assembled in an area to the south of the site, showing that it remained in use. This coincides with the reported arrival of troops in the area and the emergence of the videos, and fits with reports that the North Koreans are training in the area.

Available satellite imagery appears to show that a nearby training site in Lifarevka is also currently in use.

A comparison of low- and high-resolution images captured in October shows that several huts appear to have been renovated on site.

Training trenches and signs of activity can be seen in the high-resolution images captured on October 24.

Fighting on the Ukrainian front often involves the use of trenches similar to those seen in both places.

A North Korean flag appears on the front line

Amid reports that North Korean troops are preparing for battle in Ukraine, an image showing the North Korean flag next to Russia’s has gone viral.

Sky News has geolocated it to a former mining facility between the towns of Hirnyk and Tsukuryn in eastern Ukraine.

The site is close to the front line, with Tsukuryn captured by the Russians in early October.

While the presence of the North Korean flag does not necessarily signal their arrival in Ukraine, it does suggest that Russian frontline forces are aware of North Korea’s increasing involvement in the conflict.

A deepening relationship could alarm Beijing

Nicole Johnston

correspondent for Asia

@nicole_reporter

A deepening relationship between North Korea and Russia will also deepen China’s growing sense of unease about how close the two countries are becoming.

As thousands of North Korean troops move toward Russia and the battlefields of Ukraine, the conflict widens, drawing an unstable and unpredictable partner in North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

Chinese President Xi Jinping does not like an uncertain outcome.

This implementation has all the features of one.

If North Koreans are killed in the war, images of dead soldiers could lead to impulsive action on Kim’s part.

South Korea is seriously alarmed. But nothing can be done about it. The worry is that South Korea might be tempted to get more directly involved in the war on behalf of its enemy’s enemy – Ukraine.

The Korean Peninsula needs stability right now, the atmosphere has been very charged all year.

When Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with a mutual defense clause in Pyongyang in June, it was unclear what this would mean on the ground.

Now we know. It could mean boots on the ground.

China shares its border with both Russia and North Korea.

If these two nuclear-armed countries start fighting alongside each other, President Xi has every reason to be alarmed.

Arms deliveries

North Korean support for Russia’s war effort is not a new phenomenon.

In October 2023, the White House released images showing a Russian ship collecting containers of what the Americans claim were weapons from the North Korean port of Rason.

Before this period, the port of Rason had been mostly empty. Sky News found there was little activity at its jetties until late summer, after which increasing numbers of vessels were visible throughout the autumn and winter.

Between late August and mid-February, Sky News recorded 34 days when ships were visible at Rason’s once-empty jetties.

While it is not publicly known how much weaponry has been supplied by North Korea, the White House claimed in February that 10,000 containers of ammunition and other military materials had been sent since September 2023.

The Data and forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to delivering transparent journalism from Sky News. We collect, analyze and visualize data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite imagery, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.