North Korea has deployed approximately 1,000 soldiers from a newly formed specialized construction brigade to help rebuild areas damaged by the Russia-Ukraine war, marking a strategic shift toward systematizing post-war reconstruction as a source of foreign currency.
According to multiple Daily NK sources, about 1,000 soldiers with the 2215th Construction Brigade under the Ministry of Defense were sent in two deployments to construction sites in reconstruction regions impacted by the Russia-Ukraine war at the start of October.
A source in Russia said that “soldiers of North Korea’s 2215th Construction Brigade have been deployed to an area about 50 kilometers from Russia’s southwestern region of Rostov Oblast.” He said that the soldiers are working on “rebuilding not only roads and railways, but also all sorts of facilities, including military warehouses.”
He added that “a general-rank officer is in overall command of the brigade, while a field-grade officer has field command, and that the officers supervise, command and administer the entire construction effort, operating a reporting system alongside Russian engineering officers.”
On the ground in Russia, the unit is called the “Russia-Korea reconstruction cooperation team” or the “reconstruction engineering corps.”
From combat troops to construction crews
The Ministry of Defense founded the 2215th Construction Brigade, a specialized post-war reconstruction unit under the Military Construction Bureau, per an order from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April. Regarding this, the North Korean military had already issued an internal order clarifying the unit’s mission and goals.
“A Ministry of Defense order was issued in April defining the 2215th Construction Brigade as a ‘specialized post-war reconstruction engineering unit that will earn foreign currency through post-war reconstruction activities and send the currency to the national economy,’” a source in the North Korean military said. “The order included a directive to develop the brigade as a model unit that generates economic profit by securing foreign currency over a short period while gaining experience in post-war reconstruction.”
Considering this, North Korea appears to be making post-war reconstruction a new source of foreign currency for the national economy.
North Korea used to send active-duty soldiers to overseas construction sites through trading companies such as Kumnung Trading, Jonsong Trading and Namgang Trading. Now, however, it appears to have gone one step beyond this, moving to systematize securing foreign currency through post-war reconstruction by forming and deploying a specialized military unit.
Another source inside North Korea said the state “seems to be trying to turn reconstruction into an official national economic activity by creating a specialized post-war reconstruction unit.” He added that this means the scope of cooperation between North Korea and Russia “is expanding from the military sector to the economic sector.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
