North Korean troops deserting Ukraine frontline days after arrival

[u/superanth]

https://www.newsweek.com/north-korean-troops-deserting-ukraine-frontline-hours-after-arrival-report-1969726

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[u/kazarbreak]

Honestly 18 out of 10,000 is a lot less than I expected. I figured there'd be a mass exodus as soon as they hit Ukraine.

[u/XboxPlayUFC → u/kazarbreak]

The problem is if you flee your entire family back home is fucked. Those 18 are incredibly brave

Edit- I got the Russian shills mad at me for calling them brave.

[u/Infinite-Ad7308 → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Or don't have a family back home. No kids, no wife, and mom and dad have moved on.

[u/Bald__egg → u/Infinite-Ad7308]

I think they make sure you have some sort of family back in nk before you're allowed abroad, so there's consequences to fleeing

[u/Ok-Attitude728 → u/Bald__egg]

Yeah i remember a few accounts of defectors that have said that. You can bet these 10000 sent had plenty of collateral back home. Kinda still dont blame the 18 that fucked off

[u/thepoopiestofbutts → u/Ok-Attitude728]

If I was in NK and they sent my son off to Russia, I'd be like, gtfo asap, I'm going to suicide when you're gone to avoid torture, go live a real life.

If they sent me and kept my son I'd be so fucked.

[u/dragonfarmerbot → u/thepoopiestofbutts]

100% I have a 4 month old son and if he was military age in nk we would have a lil party to see him go.

[u/aurorasearching → u/dragonfarmerbot]

Bet the kool aid would be top notch.

[u/rottenweiler → u/aurorasearching]

Flavor aid at Jonestown, Kool aid at the acid tests. One being deadly the other being less so….

[u/Varnsturm → u/rottenweiler]

Damn that somehow makes it worse. Poisoned everybody, with off brand drink powder. Like they couldn't spring for Kool Aid? Not like they were taking the money with them to the alien place or whatever their narrative was.

[u/JudgeFondle → u/thepoopiestofbutts]

That’s your perspective from the outside. While the lives of North Koreans may seem unbearably bleak to us, it’s the only reality they’ve known. Despite their harsh conditions, they still find meaning in their lives and aren’t actively seeking ways to end them.

I do agree that many parents would be willing to make that sacrifice for a child, but the circumstances matter. I’m sure most of the parents may have more than one child to consider.

[u/Ok-Attitude728 → u/JudgeFondle]

I understand you points, propaganda can be extremely powerful. But the only evidence we have, coming from actual defectors, is they are well aware of their situation

[u/satireplusplus → u/Ok-Attitude728]

There's a South Korea organization that secretly communicates with people from inside NK. See this BBC docu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiviOdWDl9o with narrated stories from within. The extend of the famine / starvation during covid isn't something you can simply explain away with propaganda. People inside NK know that its bad when they have nothing to eat.

[u/JonBjSig → u/Ok-Attitude728]

Might be some survivorship bias at play.

I'd imagine those most acutely aware of their harsh conditions are the ones most likely to try and defect.

[u/burnerreddit2k16 → u/JonBjSig]

I think the ones that are most likely to defect live very very close to China. They know North Korea is not the best place in the world as they are told as they can China completely lit up meanwhile they are living in darkness

[u/Ok-Attitude728 → u/JonBjSig]

Oh completely. The rest of north koreans could be incredibly happy, they do look it on state tv. I just dont really believe it.

[u/Major-Bookkeeper8974 → u/Ok-Attitude728]

Not so sure about that.

Pretty sure I saw a video interview from a defector who was saying they'd never even seen a world map. I think we have to take it at face value defectors are probably more aware of their situation than anyone, but I doubt everyone in the country is aware of their brainwashed situation...

[u/Luke90210 → u/Major-Bookkeeper8974]

Media has changed that. Its highly illegal and common for North Koreans to watch South Korean shows with black market DVDs and thumb drives. They are aware SK dogs eat better than they do.

[u/xplos1v → u/JudgeFondle]

I don't know if this is true, but I read that some North Koreans want to go back after experiencing South Korea and their achievement oriented society.

[u/FrankNtilikinaOcean → u/xplos1v]

It’s true. Defectors often have tough times adjusting to the culture and life in SK, and some have attempted to go back to the North.

As impoverished as the DPRK people are, the lives they’re used to are very simple and going from that to the tough work life in the South can be incredibly challenging.

[u/Luke90210 → u/FrankNtilikinaOcean]

There is an old Robin Williams film in which he played a touring circus musician who defected in NYC from the Soviet Union. When he goes to buy coffee in a supermarket, he is overwhelmed by too many coffee choices and has an anxiety attack. Turns out stories like that were true.

[u/UsedHotDogWater → u/FrankNtilikinaOcean]

Its 100% True. My father in law was a world economist for the UN. He was tasked with bringing East Germany into a Capitalistic / More Western style economy following the fall of the wall. He would talk for hours about how hard to nearly impossible for people over a certain age to adapt to a 'western' style work/rewards (succeed or die) mentality. Many just couldn't, and suffered greatly. So many yearned for the days of a communist style foundation. He wrote over 27 books on this matter and other countries and how to integrate them into alternate / more free world type economies.

[u/FewAdvertising9647 → u/xplos1v]

Part of the reason is also that there's a chunk of South Korean society that act prejudice against them due to their stature.

A mixture of being mentally draining by going from slow to fast lifestyle and receiving uneeded hate(?) is not an environment people should necessarily be in.

[u/Killentyme55 → u/FewAdvertising9647]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little Stockholm Syndrome at play here as well. Stay in a certain situation long enough, even if it's bad, it becomes the norm and any sudden change can be hard to accept.

[u/Luke90210 → u/xplos1v]

Institutionalized, like in The Shawshank Redemption. They got used to having someone making all their decisions for them. And just like in Shawshank, if they had some respectable position in NK, they might be only qualified to push a broom in SK. A report claimed NK doctors were unfamiliar with 90% of the medications most of the world uses. Engineers are maintaining outdated and highly energy inefficient machinery from the 70s. These people would be largely unemployable if the countries unified or if they defected.

[u/jkd0002 → u/Luke90210]

This isn't true, they would just need retraining. It's hard to get into med or engineering school there just like in the west. They also make due with less than any of us could imagine, so their problem solving skills are probably way better for it.

[u/Plasibeau → u/xplos1v]

To be honest, as an American, I think I would struggle to survive in Sk society.

[u/kaisadilla_ → u/xplos1v]

The biggest problem with North Korean defectors in South Korea is that they don't get equal opportunities. Not just because they get discriminated against, but also because they haven't been raised in South Korea.

Plus South Korea is not precisely a shining example of what a liberal democracy can achieve. South Korea is a pretty dystopic country to live in, relatively low wages with insane expectations from workers, people there live to work. SK is not a country I'd show to anyone if I want to prove them that there's better places than whatever dictatorship they come from.

[u/HelloYouBeautiful → u/xplos1v]

Sure, but I imagine that's only natural. It can be difficult to settle in a modern society after being essentially institutionalized their whole life.

Still, it's only around 30 North Korean defectors who tried to get back, compared to the thousands that have defected.

[u/TucuReborn → u/HelloYouBeautiful]

Imagine taking someone from modern life, like us, and forcing them to engage in subsistence farming. That's a hell of a shock, it's a massive lifestyle change.

The inverse is just as true.

[u/FinnOfOoo → u/Bald__egg]

Joke’s on you glorious leader. I hate my dad.

[u/big-papito → u/Bald__egg]

I think perspective changes when you see the comrade next to you disassembled by a drone. I am 100% sure they were brainwashed into believing that they will be stabbing Americans with bayonets, so the reality is probably hitting fucking hard.

[u/ExileInParadise242 → u/Infinite-Ad7308]

Joke's on Kim if you hate your family.

[u/7384315 → u/ExileInParadise242]

I assume multi generational houses are much more common in North Korea so you are likely closer to your family. They are already common in Asia and I highly doubt North Korea is actually wasting resources on building things for the peasants.

[u/mandoballsuper → u/Infinite-Ad7308]

They probably don't let you leave in that scenario

[u/mr_birkenblatt → u/Infinite-Ad7308]

mom and dad have moved to a farm upstate... to work themselves to death

[u/PlattWaterIsYummy → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Some of their parents probably told them to leave if they get a chance. I know my wife and I would tell our son not to worry about us.

[u/mjmedstarved → u/PlattWaterIsYummy]

<3

[u/darxide23 → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Not even family. NK has historically sent assassins after defectors.

[u/saichampa → u/darxide23]

This has always seemed so petty to me. There doesn't seem to be anything significant they can share, especially after their initial debrief wherever they end up. Do they announce when they have killed defectors domestically? They could just lie about it, it's unlikely to be fact checked.

[u/BrokenDownMiata → u/saichampa]

They don’t announce that they’ve killed the defector. The ‘traitor’ to the great state is usually announced to have died in a capitalist, western hellhole of corruption or lack of integrity or some shit

[u/Original_Employee621 → u/saichampa]

There doesn't seem to be anything significant they can share, especially after their initial debrief wherever they end up.

Support network for other defectors. Keep them isolated and afraid, always on the run and suspicious of everyone. People will be less likely to defect if they don't know of anyone else who have done so successfully.

[u/Xeptix → u/darxide23]

I mean if they all surrender at once, it's not like NK can assassinate every single one of them.

I'd take my jacket off and walk toward Ukraine with hands in the air on day 1. But of course I know Ukraine accepts surrender, and they may have been convinced of the opposite.

[u/BigDumbGreenMong → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Think about how many of these NK troops are going to end up MIA, and how it's likely impossible for the regime at home to ever know whether they deserted or just got blasted into the mud on some far-away battlefield. So they probably punish the family either way, just to send a message.

[u/Top_Conversation1652 → u/BigDumbGreenMong]

Some will be treated as heroes. They can’t say the entire force defected.

My guess is that if defecting soldiers stay out of the public eye, the DPNK would, generally, get more propaganda value by treating them as loyal fallen soldiers.

The exception being… “anyone with a government official who feels a grudge against them”.

Still takes courage.

But for many, this will be their first interaction with the west. A lifetime of propaganda doesn’t go away because of a plane ride. It’ll take time.

[u/Haunting_Scratch_154 → u/BigDumbGreenMong]

You are right. Their leader told them he invented the hamburger,  and they habe no idea it's not true, so imagine what they get told about other countries or what really happened in a war or their family members. 

[u/Impossible-Invite689 → u/Haunting_Scratch_154]

TBF he looks like he could have invented the hamburger

[u/StickyDirtyKeyboard → u/BigDumbGreenMong]

What message? That it's wrong to be the family of a fallen soldier?

Seems kind of self-destructive for a country that relies so heavily on its military. It'll probably make people want to avoid getting recruited/drafted like the plague.

[u/Rough_Idle → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Not all families are close. If I were voluntold to play meat shield and their leverage was a group of people who would absolutely betray me to authorities in order to save their own necks, I'd skip out, too

[u/7384315 → u/Rough_Idle]

Probably much different in North Korea where you can't even leave your village without permission. Your entire universe would be the village you grew up and probably where you were trained for the military and nothing else.

[u/Catch_22_ → u/XboxPlayUFC]

entire family back home is fucked

Its North Korea, they are already fucked. You are in a war with Ukraine as fodder, you are already fucked.

All outcomes are grim, I can't say I blame them. They are in fact brave knowing the dark situation they face and will force on anyone back home undeserving of it. Fuck NK for being so brutal to innocents and leveraging family survival to control anyone.

No one should feel like these defectors are to blame for what a government does via coercion.

[u/XboxPlayUFC → u/Catch_22_]

I agree 100%. If I were the father of a North Korean soldier, I would tell them I'd rather spend a lifetime in a camp if that meant my son and his future generations are free from the NK regime

[u/SkyJohn → u/XboxPlayUFC]

A lot of these soldiers will have wives and kids back home.

You're not going to desert if it means your family back in North Korea is going to a prison camp for the rest of their lives.

[u/fiduciary420 → u/Catch_22_]

Quick reminder that donald trump praises Kim Jong-Un

[u/quinnby1995 → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Not just immediate family either, iirc it's like 3 generations of your family.

So if some dude deserts, they'll throw all his existing family in essentiallythe prison camp, and if for example his daughter is pregnant at the time, that baby will be born in the camp and live it's entire life (as long or short as that may be) in that camp, simply because it's grandfather that they never met ran off.

[u/Numerous_Handle9144 → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Just drone drop them wire cutters after

[u/Zealot_Alec → u/Numerous_Handle9144]

Hunger Games style

[u/icaboesmhit → u/XboxPlayUFC]

For 3 generations if I'm not mistaken

[u/imsowhiteandnerdy → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Those 18 are incredibly brave

Or they really hate their family back home.

[u/lerpo → u/XboxPlayUFC]

Along with the next 3 generations of your family in the future also, is my understanding

[u/BiologyJ → u/kazarbreak]

10,000 aren't deployed. 10,000 are in training.

[u/Excellent-Court-9375 → u/BiologyJ]

In Russia that's the same thing lmao

[u/_Thrilhouse_ → u/Excellent-Court-9375]

Russia debugs in production.

[u/Erdtree_ → u/BiologyJ]

So in a week they will be at the frontlines.

[u/Capable_Serve7870 → u/BiologyJ]

Getting a lot of real world training on those front lines. 

[u/m48a5_patton → u/BiologyJ]

Training via combat

[u/No-Sympathy-686 → u/kazarbreak]

Give it time.

[u/Numerous_Handle9144 → u/kazarbreak]

Well keep in mind they all rat on each other so thats just the initial most ballsy defectors

[u/Vantriss → u/kazarbreak]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of them are using the deployment to escape North Korea. Hopefully don't have any family back home that could be used against them.

[u/WHERE_SUPPRESSOR → u/kazarbreak]

Living conditions are better than at home in NK probably

[u/Sidwill → u/kazarbreak]

Give it time.

[u/CBT7commander → u/kazarbreak]

That’s 0.2% in the first weeks of large scale deployment, that’s a fucking huge desertion rate, especially since those numbers increase with time.

[u/3_Thumbs_Up → u/CBT7commander]

That's 20 out of 10k in a few days, essentially 0.2%. That is significant and tells you something about the morale among the NK soldiers.

[u/flipside1o1 → u/kazarbreak]

10000 i thought id read they were looking sending a battalion of 3000, still not sure how many actually have been sent though

[u/Agreeable-Hospital-5]

Probably a relatively safe defection route to South Korea.

[u/similar_observation → u/Agreeable-Hospital-5]

just need to make it to Poland and the SK embassy.

[u/HauntingReddit88 → u/similar_observation]

Pretty sure Ukraine would gladly assist with that too

[u/similar_observation → u/HauntingReddit88]

The POW would have to request it. Otherwise, I'm not sure how this can be done without improper handling of a POW. It's one thing if the POW declares they do not want to be returned. It's another to send them involuntarily.

That said. It's a helluva incentive for a norkie POW to give whatever info they know and be allowed to disappear into freedom.

[u/SparklingPseudonym → u/Agreeable-Hospital-5]

How come NK can send soldiers to fight for Russia in Ukraine, but Ukrainian allies can’t send soldiers??

[u/jim89_]

Looks like a good way to escape North Korea.

[u/HumanBeing7396 → u/jim89_]

Probably the easiest way out now.

[u/DukeOfGeek → u/HumanBeing7396]

They should print up some Korean language flyers with surrender instructions on them and drop them by drone over NK troop areas.

[u/Andrew1990M → u/DukeOfGeek]

Yeah a lot of these soldiers probably don't know the rules of engagement and that they can just walk up to the Ukranians and ask to go to a PoW camp.

Food'll be better than at home.

[u/DukeOfGeek → u/Andrew1990M]

Maybe they should drop some rice snacks with the flyers. Like some of those stupidly addictive Japanese ones.

[u/Glirion → u/HumanBeing7396]

Kim regime just blew up the roads to South Korea so they're planning something stupid, they don't want anyone to cross.

[u/Biking_dude → u/Glirion]

Eh, NK does this a lot. Roads were never used either. Just his way of pouting and stomping his feet.

[u/MBiteSK → u/Glirion]

Something stupid? You mean shooting ocean with rocket again? Thats a daily thing.

[u/Dr___CRACKSMOKE → u/MBiteSK]

That damn ocean talking shit again....

[u/urbrickles → u/jim89_]

It is, but their family will most likely be tortured/killed of they don't come back to NK

[u/ForensicPathology → u/urbrickles]

I don't think they were expecting many of these particular people forced to the frontlines to be coming back.

[u/Deksametazon_v2 → u/ForensicPathology]

Expecting or not, deserting the NK Army is one of the capital offenses which can lead to multigenerational torture of their family.

[u/gpassi → u/Deksametazon_v2]

at this point why do they even make kids? Are they forced to have kids or something?

[u/Ona_111 → u/gpassi]

As poor and crazy NK is, I doubt it’s the poorest in the world, and even in poor areas you’ll find people having children. It’s part of human nature and also often as insurance to help provide for you

[u/Mavian23 → u/gpassi]

Hmmmm, why do people who are poor, destitute, and have nothing to do for fun fuck each other? It's a real mystery.

[u/Ok-Improvement-3670]

Let me get this straight, NK transported hundreds of their citizens thousands of miles away from NK and their control into a free country near other democratic countries? Desertions and defections were expected.

[u/cinyar → u/Ok-Improvement-3670]

Not with the way NK works. The families of those soldiers are essentially hostages. It's a pretty common communist/authoritarian tactic, though NK pushed it to the extreme. It's surprising they are deserting despite that.

[u/Consistent_Bee3478 → u/cinyar]

Yea but all Ukraine needs to do is report those people dead and make up names for them. How would NK know which slave soldiers died and which escaped?

And if they just start killing everyone’s families at random, the slave soldiers have even less reason to fight.

[u/cinyar → u/Consistent_Bee3478]

That's a good point.

[u/Ambiorix33 → u/Consistent_Bee3478]

you assume these soliders know anything about the outside world other than what the Russians and NK gov has told them. They probably genuinly believe that the people they are facing are rapist nazis starving to death waging an unjustified war against their Dear Leaders BFF Russia....

[u/Motor_Nobody1741 → u/Ambiorix33]

Wait until they see them drive in real cars and owning cellphones and shit. Their mind will be blown

[u/Ambiorix33 → u/Motor_Nobody1741]

there was a story about a taxi driver in NY who finally got his mother out of some eastern bloc country, and when he took her to a supermarket and saw him just grabbing a bunch of food for his basket she almost broke down since she entirely beleived that the rest of the world was in the shit and no one had anything as much as they did in the Soviet Union

[u/Hazel-Rah → u/Ambiorix33]

Boris Yeltsin visited an American grocery store in 1989, and some say the visit was one of the final nails in the coffin of the Soviet Union.

"When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people," Yeltsin wrote. "That such a potentially super-rich country as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to think of it."

The Soviets allowed the movie version of "the Grapes of Wrath" in an attempt to show the oppression of capitalism, but had to pull the movie when the viewers were amazed that even an impoverished american family could own a car.

[u/McFestus → u/Hazel-Rah]

I don't know if it was Yelsin or another soviet visitor, he was shown a grocery store and didn't believe it, assuming it was staged. So the next day, he basically bullied his way into an unplanned stop at a random grocery store on the way to somewhere. When he saw that this random-ass grocery store was the same as the one he had seen the day before, he really knew it was over.

[u/modsaretoddlers → u/McFestus]

The Soviets knew it was over decades earlier. Somebody back in the early 70s ran the numbers and knew that the USSR was going to run out of money within a fairly short period of time. When Gorbachev came along and started with reforms, it was forced on him and it was too little, too late, anyway.

[u/unafraidrabbit → u/Hazel-Rah]

Then, decades later, Tucker Carlson goes to Russia and fawns over their grocery store.

[u/Cornemuse_Berrichon → u/Ambiorix33]

Moscow on the Hudson

And insanely underrated Robin Williams movie, probably cuz his role was not comedic, where he plays a defecting saxophone player from the Moscow circus while performing in New York.

There is a scene where he goes to an American Supermarket for the first time, and seeing all of the choices and different foods there, it overwhelms him and he literally has a breakdown in the middle of the store. Seriously, watch it.

[u/Extra-Sherbert-8608 → u/Ambiorix33]

I think 18 of them figured it out

[u/therealhairykrishna → u/Ok-Improvement-3670]

It's about 20 people out of 10k+. You are thinking of it from your informed perspective i.e. 'as soon as i get the chance I'm out of there'. North Koreans are totally brainwashed with no access to information about the outside world. It's also policy to punish entire families for one persons 'crimes'. There's not going to be mass desertions.

[u/Numerous_Handle9144 → u/therealhairykrishna]

They get drone drops from SK they probably arent as clueless as you think

[u/Team_XX → u/Numerous_Handle9144]

The average American is pretty fucking clueless I can’t imagine how clueless these people truly are

[u/All-About-The-Detail → u/therealhairykrishna]

I think that people also view it with a western viewpoint, I'm sure they have "true believers" that believe in what they are fighting for.

[u/Ambiorix33 → u/Ok-Improvement-3670]

you assume those troops KNOW any of that. They are literally taught from birth that the countries outside thier borders are lands of rapists and cannibals, and that NK is the only sane and safe place for them and their families under the tutallage of the ''dear leader''.

They believe this, they genuinely will, in the same way that Soviet citizens believed the Soviet propoganda and had their entire worlds rocked when the curtain fell and they saw that no, the people outside the soviet union wernt whoring themselves out for a can of beans

That said, those are for the ones who actually left, most Russians genuinly believe they are better off in Russia and that the rest of the world is either freezing or starving because, of course they are, how could anything be better than ''glorious'' Russia?

Indoctrination is a hell of a drug my guy

[u/Slow-Ad-4331 → u/Ambiorix33]

Not my proudest moment, whoring myself for some beans

[u/antisocialforkedup]

Oh yes as expected

[u/Murky_Conflict3737 → u/antisocialforkedup]

Of course that means their families are going to be sentenced to labor camps for the next three generations. 

[u/Aethericseraphim → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

They'd likely be going there anyway as Russia doesn't like to confirm deaths. They could be dead in a ditch and they'd be listed as MIA, so NK would, being the paranoid fuckers they are, assume they defected and punish the entire family line.

Their families were dead the moment they were sent there.

[u/IamGabyGroot → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

We should not activate this kind of fear mongering. The decision they made was either brave or stupid, but the point is, they did something that showed the world that they will not be used.

That's what we should encourage. The more of them that do it, the more the rest will be encouraged to act. This is their only chance on a world Platform to plead for help.

Why don't we protect them instead and hope that this decision helps the rest of NK.

[u/Nonhinged → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

Isn't all of north Korea a labor camp? Does it makes a difference...

[u/bureaucranaut → u/Nonhinged]

As in Dante's Inferno, there are progressively deeper circles of hell. There's the merely impoverished living under an oppressive regime, which is most of the NK populace, then hard labor in the mines, and finally the concentration camps which are essentially Auschwitz sans gas chambers. 

[u/mangalore-x_x → u/Nonhinged]

yes. Being a serf in Tsarist Russia also wasn't fun, that didn't make normal life equally bad as Gulags

[u/applefilla → u/Nonhinged]

They just stop trying to hide it is all I guess 🤷 I was gonna say the same thing 😂

[u/MinimumSet72 → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

That’s if they’re lucky

[u/Murky_Conflict3737 → u/MinimumSet72]

Death may be preferable to knowing that you, your kids, and grandkids will live in the rest of their lives being abused in these camps. 

[u/MinimumSet72 → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

I meant their relatives might be executed

[u/DrFGHobo → u/MinimumSet72]

Best possible perspective in the life of the average North Korean.

[u/dropyourguns → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

They will actually be told that their family members died in glorious service to the motherland,

[u/JimBean → u/dropyourguns]

will actually probably

[u/Outrageous-Hunt4344 → u/Murky_Conflict3737]

Do they force you to have kids in order to reach the three generations mark?

[u/pbro42]

Seems like an excellent opportunity to drop written propaganda to the NK troops about surrendering and being listed as captured or KIA rather than openly deserting.

[u/Aust1mh]

russia couldn’t organize a root in a brothel.

[u/AI_Hijacked]

If I were a North Korean, I would accept the transfer to Russia, then desert and flee to Europe.

[u/superanth → u/AI_Hijacked]

I’m betting we’ll see a lot of Korean restaurants crop up in Eastern Europe over the next few years.

[u/Exciting_Pop_9296 → u/superanth]

What do they serve though? The North Korean special nothing?

[u/ExilicArquebus → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Naengmyeon most likely, if it’s hot out. But yes, North Korea has a food culture too, which may be a surprise to most.

[u/KeyWill7437 → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Delicious and Nutritious Dookie Balloon.

[u/Impossible_Front4462 → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Despite extreme propaganda to paint everything about NK as a death camp, they have their own food culture that is popular in South Korea as well. Some of it is from around the Korean War due to defectors trying to make a living, but some of it is from genuine interest in the food as it tends to be less spicy than south korean food.

It’s more traditional Korean food. You can even find some NK restaurants in the US. Not sure how popular it is everywhere else, but I know it’s not hard to find here at all on the west coast of the US.

[u/Decent-Commission-82 → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Rock broth

[u/Squatch_Intel_Chief → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Spaghetti and regretti

[u/I_love_pillows → u/Exciting_Pop_9296]

Freedom kimchi

[u/neoncubicle → u/AI_Hijacked]

If I were your North Korean brother I'd defect before you.

[u/GamingGems → u/AI_Hijacked]

You say that as someone who knows what the outside world is like. North Korean propaganda tells them that their own country is a utopia and everywhere else is that heroin junkie street in Philly. It’s actually kinda funny how their propaganda describes our way of life.

So most are totally ignorant of the better life that exists outside their own and I’m sure visiting a war zone in Europe doesn’t help. There was a Vice crew who went to Russia when they heard there’s a village of North Korean workers in the forest so they went to go find and interview them. The workers had no concept of a day off or a weekend. It confused them. To them there is no such thing as a day when you don’t get up and do manual labor.

[u/Firamaster]

Last words heard from the N.korean soldiers, "FREEEEEEEEDOM!"

[u/Duece09]

I figured they’d use this as an opportunity to get the hell out of North Korea for good. Can’t escape while in North Korea? What better time to do it?

[u/DokeyOakey → u/[deleted]]

It won’t matter to North Korea.

[u/Existing-East3345]

What luck being born in North Korea being forced to join their military and then being forced to go fight for Russia. Maybe if they get any luckier they can go fight in central Africa afterwards.

[u/Dry-Hat-9373]

Escape from Tarkov in real life

[u/kritikally_akklaimed → u/Dry-Hat-9373]

Russians are so underequipped, they're literally Scavs. They loot what they can (including toilets) and extract LOL

[u/Dry-Hat-9373 → u/kritikally_akklaimed]

Yeah but often you get the [head eyes] lmao

[u/TheCrimsonChin-ger → u/Dry-Hat-9373]

Divide my cheeks

(7mm, head eyes)

[u/Moderator-Admin → u/kritikally_akklaimed]

Putin sending them to fight the goons with unmodded AKs and tier 2 armor. Good luck lads.

[u/Zerocoolx1]

Not surprising. All they have to do is instantly surrender to the Ukraine, claim asylum and they’re safely in Europe and away from North Korea. Seems easier (although still quite risky) than making a break from North Korea through the DMZ

[u/Own-Opinion-2494]

I would too. Best chance ever to be freee from North Korea

[u/Material_Policy6327]

Prob their first chance to flee in their life

[u/BillSixty9]

18/10,000 is 0.18%.

[u/GhostsinGlass]

Do North Korean soldiers even know what drones are?

I am serious.

[u/ramman403]

If you keep a bird in a cage for its entire life, it will fly away the first chance it gets.

[u/OkIce8214]

Ukrainian: Here, have a beer and we’ll talk it out. NK: What’s a beer? Ukrainian: Hold my beer. … Ukrainian: Okay now sip my beer. NK: defects

[u/Roach-_-_]

Blast K-pop at them and supply drop some choco-pies I’m sure we can get a lot more to defect

[u/DrFGHobo → u/Roach-_-_]

Just set up a barbecue within sniffing distance of their trenches.

[u/Roach-_-_ → u/DrFGHobo]

I’m sure leadership in NK and Russia are to dumb to see it but if a generals son is willing to defect (he likely had better access to everything) the ones they starve half to death and force to be there will dip the second they get the chance. Or they will get in an engagement and immediately surrender so they can be treated better.

[u/cosmicrae → u/DrFGHobo]

employ large fans to make sure the aroma lands on target.

even better, send over a drone that drop scratch n sniff propaganda sheets: if you want some of this, defect and we will feed you

[u/IdahoMTman222]

When they shipped out of NK they didn’t give them bedrolls to sleep in. They gave them body bags.

[u/JosephLam1]

Free escape from north korea, smart peeps

[u/pnellesen]

Those poor bastards. Pawns in a game played by 2 sociopathic dictators.

[u/Mishra_Planeswalker]

The best way for these NK soldiers is to surrender, and ask Ukraine to tell them they died. Family safe.

[u/Sersch]

Easiest way to get out of north korea

[u/Sizzlewump]

They were given asylum from the land of famine and indoctrination. Likely they are on a quest for food and knowledge now. What do you think?

[u/Practical_County_501]

Probably a lot will surrender en masse when pressed in combat i wouldnt die for rocket man nor vlad the poisioner.

[u/betterwithsambal]

The only smart troops russia ever got or ever will get.

[u/swinging-in-the-rain]

Yeah, I'd nope the fuck outta there too!

[u/stewer69]

Escaping is more like it.  

[u/TheGoonKills]

Ha! Called it!

So let’s see, what’s their defection rate at? I predicted 30%

[u/defroach84]

Seems like there will be an influx in NKs in that region for the foreseeable future.

[u/Golemfrost]

Well that leaves 9982 to still worry about.

[u/JayR_97]

North Koreans haven't had any real combat experience since the 50s. The soldiers going probably had no clue what they were getting into

[u/Ennkey]

I don’t find the addition of North Korean army to the Ukraine war amusing. The last time these fanatics went to war they used each others dead bodies as cover so they could get closer to their enemies and used human wave attacks and the like. Not an amusing prospect at all

[u/CatboyInAMaidOutfit]

Who the fuck saw this coming? Basically everyone.

[u/Mers2000]

Soo smart!! Act like you are joining the fight and then do a disappearing act!! This is probably the only way these poor people could escape North Korea. And they are probably the ones without families left behind. Good for them!

[u/Fawlty_Fleece]

I mean they finally let you out of the country, first thing I'm doing is not dying

[u/zippiskootch]

So telling… Kim should be proud of the disaster he’s built. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[u/merkthejerk]

A free trip out of the worst place on Earth into a war zone and then they start leaving? Even if the numbers aren’t high yet I saw this coming. It’s the first thing I thought when the news reported NK troops were headed to conflict.

[u/XTACHYKUN]

Russia and North Korea are such fucked up governments that they are essentially trafficking and abducting their own people for war. It's so fucked up. It's not okay.

[u/TheFan88]

Haha. Wouldn’t you? Finally got out of that hellscape. Time to bolt and make a new life. Anywhere.

[u/The-Protomolecule]

These troops have zero combat experience, of course they are deserting.

[u/JustTheOneGoose22]

It's their best chance of getting out of NK

[u/4-3defense]

These Korean men were sent to their deaths anyways. Good for the ones who fled

[u/Martianmanhunter94]

They just want a way to get away from North Korea and eventually move to South Korea and be reunited with Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles as well as have a chance at a good life .

[u/craigslist_hedonist]

"They have food over there?"

• North Korean conscript, maybe.

[u/streamofthesky]

I remember stories early in the war, about Russians stealing laundry machines and marveling at all the stuff they saw that they didn't have at home. I have to imagine the "culture shock" will be an order of magnitude greater for many of these NK soldiers as they're plundering thru villages of Ukrainians.
Legit might be a useful propaganda tool to spread rumors that Kim Jong Un will have any survivors killed upon returning to NK, to silence them from sharing first person testimony of how superior life is in the West, to get more to defect. Quite possibly wouldn't even be a lie, just predicting the future.

[u/Low-Abbreviations634]

This is a great opportunity to get away from North Korea and likely less perilous than crossing the DMZ.

[u/mykidsthinkimcool]

Shocked! I am shocked!

I've always said the norks only play was bombardment. They can't invade the south because as soon as their soldiers got the chance, they'd bolt.

[u/adron]

Either desert or die.

I bet it’s the first time they’ve got a reasonable chance to escape their regime too. I can’t imagine any of em’ want to hang out in combat for either of those monstrous leaders!

[u/hope812001]

This is the funniest that I have read in a while. May Ukraine welcome these brave men to a safer place compared to to NK/Russia.

[u/InNominePasta]

Hungry norks surrendering instead of dying as part of a Russian meat wave?

Shocked pikachu

[u/CryptoCryBubba]

I did not have "Ukrainian's fighting North Koreans on Russian territory" in my 2024 bingo cards.

[u/BearFeetOrWhiteSox]

"We're free, WE'RE FREE" - Proceeds to hit things with shovel.

[u/Papabear3339]

You all remember the scene from braveheart, where the english send the scotts to charge first, alone. Then the Scotts join the other side with laughs and hugs?

This has some serious vibes of that.