North Koreans Fake Tuberculosis to Avoid Going to War – Newsweek

Many people are willing to pay for fake certificates because they fear that their relatives may die at the front.

North Koreans are faking tuberculosis to avoid being sent 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 the war zone, Newsweek reports .

The US and South Korea estimate that Kim Jong-un’s regime has already sent up to 12,000 troops to Russia. They are fighting in Kursk, helping Russian forces resist the Ukrainian counteroffensive. However, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang officially acknowledges 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 seek ways to exempt their loved ones from conscription.

According to Radio Free Asia , the price of bribing doctors to obtain a fake TB certificate has increased fivefold compared to 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 people 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 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 Ryanggang resident as saying.

It is reported that relatives of the deceased receive official death certificates with the wording “sacred combat exercises in honor of the Motherland,” without specifying the actual circumstances of the death.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 3,800 North Korean soldiers have died in Kursk so far.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pyongyang is preparing for a new wave of mobilization. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) predicts that the next troop deployment could come as early as mid-March, with North Korean casualties reaching 45,000 per month.

Alina Gritsenko, an analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Ukraine, notes:

“For now, North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to be less about supporting Putin’s imperial ambitions and more about upgrading Kim Jong-un’s fighting machine. In the short term, the presence of North Korean soldiers allows Russia to overcome its growing manpower shortage. But with Russia believed to be losing tens of thousands of troops every month, there is little chance that Pyongyang will be able to fully satisfy Moscow’s insatiable demand for additional manpower.”

Meanwhile, the United States has threatened to tighten sanctions. Former President Donald Trump said the conflict could have been avoided under his presidency and threatened Putin with “making a deal” to end the war. Russian government officials responded that Moscow was “waiting for signals” from Washington.

(C)UNIAN 2025