Russia plans film on North Korean troops

Russia is planning to produce a war film depicting the exploits of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine, with a South Korea-born actor cast as a North Korean soldier.

Russian film producer Vadim Oleinik unveiled plans for the war movie “Sudzha. Brothers in Arms” during a funding pitch for Russia's Ministry of Culture on Tuesday, NK News reported Wednesday.

The film will tell the story of a Russian and a North Korean soldier who fought together during Russia's recapture of Sudzha, a town in the Kursk region near Ukraine, in March 2025.

Oleinik said the film would primarily target younger audiences and pay tribute to soldiers killed in the fighting in Kursk. It is slated for release in August 2027.

The film's protagonist, a North Korean reconnaissance soldier, will be played by South Korea-born actor Lee Hyuk-joong.

Oleinik also unveiled an AI-generated trailer during the presentation. The footage shows Ukrainian troops entering Sudzha and North Korean soldiers rescuing a Russian soldier.

In the trailer, a woman who appears to be the soldier’s mother tries to dissuade him from going to war. She tells him, “This isn’t your war,” but he replies that he is “needed” in Kursk, which suggests the soldier volunteered to fight.

Another scene shows the protagonist training in the rain alongside fellow soldiers.

The trailer ends with Russian and North Korean soldiers standing side by side atop a building overlooking the ruins of Sudzha, each holding his country's flag. The scene appears to recreate photographs and footage taken during the actual operation to recapture the town, NK News reported.

Lee said in Russian that he was honored to participate in the film, speaking in a prerecorded video shown during the presentation.

The production announcement, however, sparked concerns even within Russia that the film could distort historical facts.

Ilya Sponyaka, an adviser to Russia's Culture Ministry who said he had fought in Kursk, questioned whether the film would exaggerate the North Korean troops' role in the battle.

Sponyaka said the script appeared to show North Korean troops taking part in the initial defense against Ukraine’s incursion in August 2024, even though they did not arrive until late 2024.

Oleinik responded that Russia's Ministry of Defence had already approved the script and that the production team had documents to back up the claim. He added that military advisers would be involved to ensure the accuracy of the battle scenes.

Oleinik also referred to an operation in which Russian troops infiltrated Ukrainian positions through a gas pipeline.

“We will not claim that North Korean soldiers emerged from the gas pipeline and liberated Sudzha,” Oleinik said. “We clearly distinguish between these events. But we will depict the heroism of the 619 North Korean soldiers who were killed in action.”

North Korea began deploying troops to Russia in October 2024, with its first units believed to have entered combat around December that year.

Russia and North Korea did not officially acknowledge the North Korean military's participation in the Kursk operation until April 2025, after Russia announced that it had recaptured the border region.

A memorial in Pyongyang honoring North Korean soldiers killed in the war bears about 2,300 names, according to an NK News analysis. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has estimated about 2,000 North Korean troops were killed.

Russia has since organized a series of events and commemorative projects honoring North Korean troops' participation in the war, including awarding medals to North Korean soldiers and highlighting their contributions through exhibitions, monuments and murals.

Chris Monday, a Russia expert at Dongseo University, told NK News that the film follows the Russian government's broader approach of promoting patriotism while seeking to curry favor with North Korea.

He said funding for films in Russia is now largely limited to productions with clear patriotic messages and that recent Russian war films are characterized by simplistic and unquestioning patriotism. Monday added that Pyongyang would likely welcome the film, as its portrayal of North Korean soldiers would align with the regime's own propaganda efforts to depict its troops as superhuman.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]