The North Korean Phantom Army Has Vanished Into The Mists Of The Russian Kursk Region
Why Is The Collective West's Biggest Conspiracy Theory For 2024 Now Falling Apart?
Could this be a result of recent changes in Washington? The grandiose story spread by the last US administration and its allies in NATO about the massive North Korean troop contingent stationed in the Kursk region of Russia, allegedly fighting NATO-backed Ukrainian invasion forces, is now fading into obscurity.
Fictitious claims sold as news
In my October 2024 article entitled North Korean Soldiers at War Against Ukraine — Only in the Imagination of Zelensky and his Western Supporters! I pointed out the glaring errors in this portrayal. That made me an outlier, swimming against the tide of the media.
Only exceptionally did doubts arise in the mainstream media, for example when the BBC wrote, and that was downright conspicuous: “Despite weeks of reports suggesting that as many as 10.000 North Korean troops have been sent to Kursk to join the Russian counteroffensive the soldiers we have been in contact with have yet to encounter them." BBC quotes one soldier: “I have not seen or heard anything about Koreans alive or dead,” and the sarcastic comment of another Ukrainian soldier: “It is very difficult to find a Korean in the dark Kursk forest especially if he is not there.”
And France 24 was pretty much the only mainstream media that checked all the photos and videos allegedly showing North Korean soldiers in Russia. They thought they saw some North Korean soldiers in footage in the Far East. All the pictures and videos allegedly showing North Korean soldiers in Kursk did not show North Korean soldiers or were fake, according to France24.
North Korean troops vanish into thin air
A recent New York Times article claims that North Korean troops have withdrawn from the Kursk region. Their withdrawal was just as invisible as their supposed presence before. The newspaper also claims that the North Korean command ordered the withdrawal after significant, again unseen, casualties. After weeks and months of reporting on the impressive presence of powerful North Korean forces in Kursk, there now suddenly appears to be no North Korean military presence in the area.
The narrative about the North Korean soldiers in Kursk is more than just astonishing; it embodies a remarkable mixture of cynicism and absurdity. The Western media’s handling of the Ukrainian story is a striking example of how unproven allegations can be adopted, constantly repeated and perpetuated, and treated as fact even though they lack any solid foundation.
Two North Korean soldiers in Ukrainian captivity - or not?
The Ukrainians have claimed on multiple occasions that they attempted to capture North Korean soldiers, presenting various photos as supposed evidence. However, these images failed to withstand rigorous examination. The inconsistencies in the photos should have raised doubts about the narrative. Subsequently, the Ukrainians asserted that they had captured some North Korean soldiers, only to report that these individuals had died shortly after. Later, Kiev announced that two North Koreans were alive and in Ukrainian custody, but there has been no update on their status for weeks. Efforts by the South Koreans to reach these soldiers were thwarted, as the two reportedly declined to defect.
The mysterious phantom army of the North Koreans in the Kursk region has seemingly disappeared into the fog of Kursk, underlining its inherent fictionality and unreality. Nevertheless, this fictional narrative had tangible effects: Zelensky’s attempt to use the alleged presence of over ten thousand North Korean soldiers in Kursk to justify action by foreign (NATO) troops against them and the Russians that could lead to a third world war ultimately failed. In early 2024, President Biden refused to allow Kiev to attack Russia with US missiles (which must be programmed, aimed and guided by US forces) for fear of triggering a third world war, as he explained his decision. In November, however, the Biden administration announced a reversal of its policy and authorized missile strikes inside Russia using American ATACMS missiles to counter the alleged presence of North Korean forces in the Kursk region, according to the administration.
The North Korean ghost army - a useful instrument for the real escalation of the war
The North Korean phantom army was thus assigned a dangerous role in the escalation of the conflict. The media, once more, found themselves in a compromising position. As the new US administration under Donald Trump turned its back on the past and sought to finally end the protracted war that had been fueled rather than prevented or stopped by the Biden administration, it became clear that it was time for Kiev and its Western media allies to quietly remove the North Korean phantom army from their henceforth untenable propaganda narrative.
Probably the biggest Western conspiracy theory of the past year has thus been put to bed without a sound bite. And the media cannot be expected to apologize to their viewers, listeners and readers for the extent to which they have once again been led around by the nose.
Freelance American journalist Patrick Lancaster was recently back in Kursk, despite all the dangers. He had heard rumors of North Korean soldiers there, but no one could confirm that he had ever seen any. On the other hand, he had seen gruesome scenes of piles of dead civilians in places previously occupied by Ukrainian soldiers. When Ukrainian war crimes come to light, be prepared for the mainstream media to try to ignore them as much as possible, unlike with the North Korean conspiracy theory.
One last desperate attempt to revive the hackneyed conspiracy theory
The Ukrainian army is on the verge of being annihilated in the Russian war of attrition in Kursk. Just in time, news arrives from Zelensky, causing a stir in the German media, that the North Korean troops are back. No one but Zelensky saw them coming. And if he says it, it must be true.
T-online headline: “After heavy losses: North Korea's soldiers back on the front line”
T-online, Der Spiegel and other German tellers of horror stories are trying to revive the conspiracy theory buried by the New York Times. Although the North Korean losses are supposedly very high, the editors have not noticed that there is not a single picture about it.
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P.S. The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo conducted on 19th February 2025 an interview with one of the two North Koreans allegedly captured in Kursk. The Ukrainian secret service SBU operates deep inside Russia and carries out sabotage and assassination operations. It is therefore quite possible that they captured a North Korean far away from Kursk and prepared him for the interview. Zelensky, who is running out of steam, desperately needs a propaganda success.
Mediabiasfactcheck indicates that Chosun Ilbo exhibits a reporting style characterized by "poor sourcing techniques, lack of transparency and failed fact-checking.”
On the same day President Trump claimed that a large number of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were "wiped out" in Ukraine. He has also provided no evidence for this. We will probably have to wait until doomsday for the evidence.
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Felix Abt is an entrepreneur, author and travel blogger, living in Asia.
With his articles, he tries to make a modest contribution to debunking the omnipresent propaganda of the mainstream media for those who don’t have the time (and that’s most people) to do the research to see through it.
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This article was written for the Asian internet magazine Eastern Angle