Russia may have supplied fighter jets to North Korea in exchange for troops
Illustrative photo: Russia could exchange Su-27s and MiG-29s for North Korean soldiers (Getty Images)
Russia may have transferred MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets to North Korea, possibly as payment for North Korean soldiers, according to Aviation Week and Defense Express.
Aircraft transfer to North Korea
Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, stated that Russia has agreed to send MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters to North Korea.
He noted that while North Korean soldiers are not actively engaged in combat in Ukraine, they are deployed in conflict zones.
Admiral Paparo suggested that North Korea likely seeks additional technologies from Russia, including ballistic missile technology, re-entry vehicle systems, advanced submarine technologies, and air defense systems.
How many jets were delivered
Defense Express recalled earlier reports that North Korea might receive Su-35 jets from Russia. This was evidenced by the fact that Kim Jong Un visited an aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur where Su-35s are produced.
The agency believes that given the current state of the DPRK's aviation, the transfer of the MiG-29 and Su-27 would represent a significant upgrade for North Korea’s air force.
Publicly available data shows that North Korea currently has only 18 MiG-29s and 34 Su-25s. These aircraft were received from the USSR in the 1980s. It is also known that North Korea may have fifty MiG-23s, up to 200 MiG-21s, and up to 200 MiG-17s and MiG-19s.
However, it is not known for sure which of these aircraft are capable of flying.
According to Defense Express, an important question is how many of its MiG-29s and Su-27s Russia will be able to transfer to North Korea.
It is currently known that at the beginning of this year, Russia had 70 Soviet-model MiG-29/MiG-29UB, 14 modernized MiG-29SMT and two MiG-29UBT. There were also 12 Su-27s and 18 Su-27UBs, 47 Su-27SMs and 24 Su-27SM3s, as well as 18 Su-27s in the basic version, used by the Russian Navy's naval aviation.
This suggests that the number of aircraft planned to be transferred from Russia to North Korea may be determined by the level of technological developments in aviation that the Russians will be willing to share with their North Korean colleagues.
North Korean troops in Russia
In early October, it became known that soldiers from North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia. They were reportedly deployed to the Kursk region, where active combat is taking place.
According to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, North Korea seeks missile, nuclear, and other military technologies in exchange for its soldiers.
