Norks on Film

Video leaks confirm North Korean troops in Russia, likely to be used against the Kursk salient.

North Korea has one of the largest militaries in the world with about 1.2 million soldiers, but most are underfed and poorly equipped, and have been used as labor forces rather than for military operations.

But the soldiers sent to Russia were special operations troops, including from North Korea’s elite Eleventh Army Corps, often called the “Storm Corps,” South Korea’s spy agency said this week.

The “Storm Corps” is among North Korea’s best trained and best equipped units, said Go Myong-hyun, senior research fellow at Seoul’s Institute for National Security Strategy, which is affiliated with South Korea’s intelligence agency.