When describing North Korean attacks in Kursk in late December, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby referred to their use of “human wave tactics” to launch “massed dismounted assaults” on Ukrainian forces. He also called the troops “highly indoctrinated” and dismissed them as fanatical zealots who learn little from combat.
Ukraine has similarly insisted that the DPRK troops are “cannon fodder” for Russia's invasion and emphasized their reliance on overwhelming numbers to be effective.
But while these descriptions are striking, they risk creating an overly simplistic picture of North Korea's military, regurgitating a decades-old stereotype about Asian communist military tactics.
In particular, this language suggests the DPRK troops deployed are unsophisticated and incapable of adapting, when in fact they are learning valuable lessons that have relevance far beyond the battlefields of Ukraine.
Origins of a Stereotype
This “human wave” label has been used in the past to paint adversarial forces, in particular from Asia, as faceless hordes. Prominent examples include Chinese soldiers during the Korean War and communist forces during the Vietnam War.
This is a stereotype that is not only racist but also unhelpful in shaping effective U.S. military strategy. It represents the adversary as inherently barbaric and suicidal. Such characterizations risk underestimating adversaries and neglecting how battlefield experiences inform their evolving tactics and strategies.
In global military history, armies have often compensated for their lack of firepower and training with their sheer number of highly committed soldiers. Massed frontal assaults staged in rapid fashion were meant to constantly pressure and then overwhelm the enemy, even if it held technological superiority.
British and French mass assaults at the Battle of Somme during World War I could be described as “human wave” attacks. So contrary to Western stereotypes, “human wave” attacks were not a uniquely perverse communist way of fighting war.
It was during the Korean War, when U.S. military leadership began using “human wave” to describe Chinese military tactics, that the term gained popularity.
In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur explained, “The enemy's human wave tactics definitely failed him as our own forces become seasoned to this form of warfare; his tactics of infiltration are but contributing to his piecemeal losses, and he is showing less stamina than our own troops under rigors of climate, terrain, and battle.”
The DPRK troops in Kursk are often better equipped and better trained than their Russian comrades. Many of them are special operations forces, presumably from the Storm Corps.
In reality, Chinese massed attacks during the Korean War were what the People's Liberation Army officially called “short attacks.” The Chinese forces attacked narrow enemy positions with light infantry formations to break through the front lines on the battlefield.
Likewise, the North Koreans fighting for Russia are not fodder for “human wave” attacks. In fact, the DPRK troops in Kursk are often better equipped and better trained than their Russian comrades. Many of them are special operations forces, presumably from the Storm Corps.
North Korean forces struggled at first, especially to adjust to Ukrainian drone attacks. One recently captured DPRK soldier told his Ukrainian interrogators that he thought he was being sent to Russia for a training exercise, not active combat.
But if initial North Korean units were not given such critical information about battlefield conditions, that appears to be changing now. The country's soldiers appear to be quickly adapting to 21st century warfare and becoming formidable foes on the battlefield.
For instance, in an effort to minimize exposure to drone attacks, North Korean combat units are now smaller and thus stealthier. As a Ukrainian special forces commander recently said, “They are trying to get smarter, they're not trying to be at one point like a herd of sheep.
Strategic Blinders
When experts and governments dismiss Russian and North Korean forces with derogatory labels like “cannon fodder” or “meat,” it suggests that Western leadership has failed to internalize key lessons from Cold War–era military conflicts. Such terms portray their forces as stagnant and nonadaptive—and this undermines the strategic thinking of Western forces.
These labels also imply the enemy is incapable of learning and that Moscow and Pyongyang are just sacrificing troops to no end. However, Russia's recent battlefield gains demonstrate that, although attritional warfare is undeniably brutal, it can ultimately achieve strategic objectives.
Handwritten notes recovered from a fallen North Korean soldier suggest that these troops are closely studying modern warfare tactics, with a particular focus on mastering drone operations.
Major General Vadym Skybytskyi, deputy chief of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence organization, said initial North Korean units “advanced in large groups across snowy fields. The next lot won't do that. They are learning new tactics and how to fight in a drone environment.”
North Korean generals and commanders are likely studying how DPRK-made weaponry, such as Koksan howitzers, perform on the battlefield against Ukrainian forces.
Kim Jong-un's decision to send over 10,000 troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine appears to have been a calculated move to enhance military capabilities.
Kim Jong-un's decision to send over 10,000 troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine appears to have been a calculated move to enhance military capabilities. Rather than mindless “human waves” fighting without strategy or reason, North Korean forces are gaining combat experience that could be applied to future conflicts on the Korean Peninsula.
Moreover, the recent news that it was Kim, not Putin, who came up with the idea of sending DPRK troops to help Russia suggests that there are long-term objectives at play for the North Korean regime. Tactical experience in modern warfare would be a decisive advantage for the North Korean side if military conflict against the South ever breaks out again on the peninsula.
