Why did Kim Jong Un send troops to Russia?

[Anchor]
These days, there are a series of reports of the North Korean military sending troops to Russia.

Russia is believed to be on the offensive with North Korean soldiers at the forefront of fierce fighting.

What does North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gain and lose in exchange for the lives of dispatched soldiers?

Reporter Kwon Young-hee reports.

[Reporter]
The arms deal with Russia is invigorating the North Korean military industry.

The U.S. believes North Korea is expanding its KN-23 ballistic missile manufacturing plant to boost Russian supplies.

Since August last year, North Korea has sent 20,000 containers carrying weapons to Russia and is estimated to have earned as much as 8 trillion won.

Considering that North Korea's official exports last year were around 480 billion won, it is a huge amount.

In addition, experts estimate that even if 10,000 soldiers are dispatched, they will earn more than 400 billion won in labor costs per year.

He also got the opportunity to test his hands-on experience and weapon systems, and most of all, he is likely to be provided with ballistic missiles and nuclear-related technologies from Russia.

[James Nixie Chatham House Russia-Eurasia Director: What Kim Jong Un wants in return is food, missile technology, and maybe nuclear technology.]

North Korea is paying for enormous casualties.

In particular, drones, a key ground-war offensive tool for the Ukrainian military, have caused enormous damage.Experts in the

military say it is impossible to know how well the North Korean military, which was mainly trained to infiltrate hilly areas on the Korean Peninsula, prepared for the flat trenches.

Some say that Russia may have been vulnerable internally by sending too many weapons.

It is unclear whether cooperation between North Korea and Russia will be able to continue and what will happen to the estranged China.

[Edward Howell, Oxford University Researcher: Kim Jong-un has called Russia North Korea's most honest friend, but what does it mean for China, its biggest economic partner? China is much more important to North Korea than Russia.

Most of North Korea trades with China, so there is not much to exchange with Russia except for weapons.

Russia accounts for less than 2% of North Korea's international trade, while China accounts for more than 90%.

I'm YTN's Kwon Younghee.

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video: Han Kyung-hee