North and South Korea could not be more different. North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK) is a dictatorship, with one of the world’s poorest economies and largest, nuclear equipped, militaries, and a population isolated from literally everyone. South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea, ROK) is a robust democracy, with a smaller, non-nuclear military, and companies like Samsung and Hyundai that drive a rich and open economy with a globally connected population.
It was not always like this. At the start of the Korean War, North Korea was the wealthier and more industrialized of the two. Things began to change for South Korea in the late 1960s and 1970s. Critical to South Korea’s skyrocketing economic growth was the act of sending troops to fight in a major power war, a decision that North Korea is currently emulating.
More than 300,000 South Korean troops fought alongside the U.S. and South Vietnam (more than all their other Vietnam War allies combined), with 50,000 deployed in 1967 alone. Known as fierce fighters, many of the Korean soldiers had lost family members to the communists in the Korean War. About 4,700 South Koreans died in the conflict. The U.S. government paid South Korean troops around 24 times more per day than they would have normally earned, while rewarding their government with grants, loans, wartime purchases, and technology transfers.
That the Korean troops were costly was fully appreciated at the time, as seen in a declassified discussion of the U.S. National Security Council’s Senior Review Group, January 15, 1971, between General Westmoreland, the Army chief of staff and the former head of U.S. forces in Vietnam; Dr. Henry Kissinger, the national security adviser; and U. Alexis Johnson. the under secretary of state for political affairs, when discussing the need for more troops along the North/South Vietnam Demilitarized Zone (DMZ):
Gen. Westmoreland: Of course, whether you can expand Vietnamese forces generally is debatable. Considering the economic and manpower base, I have some doubts about this. …If we wanted to pay the price (which would probably be a big one), we could get a Korean division deployed along the DMZ.
Mr. Johnson: Would there be a price?
Gen. Westmoreland: Yes. Korean inertia is great. It would cost us perhaps $100 million. They would demand all sorts of things.
Dr. Kissinger: Like what?
Gen. Westmoreland: Additional equipment, tanks, APCs, an accelerated modernization program for the ROK forces in Korea. It could be done, however, and I think it would be worth the price.
In total, South Korea gained about a billion dollars (plus advanced technology and critical trade relationships) for sending troops to fight in the Vietnam War. Many see these financial benefits as essential and instrumental to South Korea’s economic transformation, known as the Miracle on the Han River.
Today, North Korea is also serving as a proxy for a major power, sending about 10,000 troops to the Russia-Ukraine War (with plans for more), in addition to providing key weapon systems like artillery and drones (military production is the bright spot in their economy). While employing dated tactics and suffering heavy losses in their deployment to Kursk, the North Korean troops also quickly gained a reputation for ferocity.
What does North Korea get for deploying its troops? First, the country gains invaluable combat experience in one of the world’s deadliest and most innovation-driven conflicts. Second, its forces will be exposed to different people and ideas – even in Russia. Third, North Korea strengthens its relationship with Russia – especially important given its lack of allies. Fourth, North Korea may receive technology transfers circumventing current U.N. sanctions. Finally, North Korea will receive significant cash, including an estimated salary (paid to the government) of $2,000 per month per soldier or $20 million per month for 10,000 soldiers (whose actual pay is miniscule) – a lifeline for a poor country trying to support an enormous military.
Sending soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War fundamentally transformed South Korea. The deployment of North Korean soldiers to the Russian-Ukraine War will likely do the same – critically altering North Korea, peninsular relations, and East Asian regional security. While results will take time to play out, drawing from history the likelihood that this experience has a profound impact looks all but certain.