Relatives of North Korean soldiers are ready to pay crazy money for fake certificates to save the men from being sent to the Russian front.
Residents of North Korea fake tuberculosis to avoid being forced to the front in Russia. Families are spending more than 100 times the average monthly salary on fake medical certificates to protect men from being sent to war zones.
Newsweek reports on this.
According to US and South Korean estimates, Kim Jong-un's regime has already sent up to 12,000 troops to Russia. They are participating in the battles near Kursk, helping Russian troops counter the Ukrainian counteroffensive. However, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang officially acknowledge the presence of North Korean soldiers in the conflict.
North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world, with 1.3 million active duty troops and another 7.6 million reservists. Men are required to serve for 10 years, while women are required to serve for five years. This has forced many relatives to look for ways to exempt their loved ones from conscription.
According to Radio Free Asia, the cost of bribing doctors to obtain a fake tuberculosis certificate has increased fivefold since last year, from $100 to $500. For most families, this is a huge sum, since the average monthly salary of a civil servant in North Korea is only $1–3. However, many are willing to pay because they fear that their relatives may die at the front.
“There is a hidden fear that if their sons join the army and are sent to Russia, their parents will never see them alive again,” said a resident of Ryanggang Province.
According to a captured North Korean soldier who ended up in Ukrainian military custody, he was not informed in advance that he was going to Russia. Many North Koreans were surprised by this turn of events and did not understand who they would have to fight against.
“Who is our enemy? Why do we need a new enemy?” – Radio Free Asia quotes one of the residents of Ryanggang.
It is reported that the relatives of the deceased receive official death certificates with the wording “sacred combat exercises in honor of the Motherland” without specifying the real circumstances of the death.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 3,800 North Korean soldiers have already died in Kursk.
Recall, there are battles in the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are counterattacking.
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