• @DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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    1901 month ago

    Imagine living in a 1950’s time bubble. You are being constantly told through propaganda that your military force is cutting edge and that it can easily overwhelm any enemy.

    Then you are being sent to fight on a battlefield where everyone has better gear than you, where you are confronted to weapons that are so far advanced beyond anything that you’ve ever seen they might as well be magic. Then you see said weapons completely obliterate your comrades without giving you a chance to even see the enemy who operates them.

    You only obeyed so far because you feared what your government might do to you if you didn’t. Now you’ve found something that you fear even more.

    • @Zess@lemmy.world
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      341 month ago

      You’re also used to standing around guarding a border all the time, not experiencing actual combat at all.

      • @M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        341 month ago

        Novel? As in a book of fiction? This is happening right now. I am sure some video of this will come out of this sad story and maybe in a few years some of these people who surrendered will be able to write their own story first hand. (I am assuming they will not want to go back to nk).

        • DominusOfMegadeus
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          101 month ago

          Yeah, a fictional account of a current situation is pretty preposterous, you’re right. Dunno what I was thinking.

      • @LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        I threw it into ChatGPT, then asked them to change the name from Henry to one common in Korea.

        In-soo had always believed the stories. The glossy propaganda reels, the posters of steely-eyed soldiers, and the speeches from government officials all painted the same picture: his country’s military was unmatched, unstoppable. Though the world had advanced, In-soo’s nation remained locked in a past vision of itself, proudly touting its military might, using technology that hadn’t evolved much beyond the 1950s. Tanks, planes, and rifles that his father might’ve used were still standard issue. It was enough, they said, to overwhelm any enemy.

        But when they arrived on the battlefield, the illusion shattered.

        The air was thick with smoke and dust. In-soo clutched his rifle, a relic from an era that felt like ancient history. He could hear the hum of something—machines, weapons, drones? He didn’t know. The enemy was out there, but they remained invisible, their presence felt only through strange, high-pitched frequencies and flashes of light. He had been trained for combat in a conventional sense, but this wasn’t war as he understood it.

        A blinding flash erupted in the distance. Seconds later, half his squad was gone, reduced to nothing more than ash. No gunfire, no warning—just a blip, and they were vaporized. In-soo froze. This wasn’t warfare. It was annihilation. The weapons being used against them were so advanced they were beyond his comprehension, like something out of a nightmare. Weapons that didn’t give him a chance to even see who—or what—was operating them.

        “Stay together!” his commanding officer shouted, but it didn’t matter. How could they stay together when they couldn’t even see what was killing them? Panic surged through the ranks. Soldiers who had once stood tall, believing in their nation’s invincibility, now scattered in terror, desperate to survive.

        In-soo crouched behind a rusted piece of machinery, gripping his rifle tightly, though he knew it was useless. He had been afraid of disobeying orders, terrified of what his government would do to him if he didn’t serve. But now, that fear felt insignificant. The enemy’s technology wasn’t just more advanced—it was like magic, bending the very rules of reality.

        He glanced at the scorched earth where his comrades once stood, feeling a deep, gnawing helplessness. They weren’t soldiers anymore. They were bodies—disappearing in a war where they never stood a chance. In-soo had always feared the consequences of deserting or refusing to fight, but now, a new terror gripped him: the realization that he was facing something far worse than his government’s threats.

        The certainty that had once bolstered him was gone. All that remained was the fear of an enemy he couldn’t see, couldn’t fight, and couldn’t even begin to understand.

        • DominusOfMegadeus
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          51 month ago

          It’s pretty alright! Too on the nose with the descriptions at first but that improved a bit as it went. I think I might give this a go myself tomorrow!

  • HubertManne
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    1021 month ago

    my first thought when nk sent troops was what an opportunity to get out of nk.

        • @CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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          151 month ago

          I dunno the NK troops at least appear to have boots, so coming back and telling stories of how the ‘western’ Russian troops don’t even have shoes or ammo is probably decent propaganda for the regime.

          • @Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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            221 month ago

            Look at night time satellite imagery. South Korea looks like an island; the northern half of the peninsula is almost entirely dark.

            The street lamps along their route to Ukraine will be enough to give them culture shock.

  • @Stovetop@lemmy.world
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    761 month ago

    I know a good number of North Koreans would love to defect if there weren’t going to be consequences for their families back home. Put those people in a situation where they can just disappear and have it explained as being honorably slain in combat? Seems like a golden opportunity if the country they defect to doesn’t just send them back.

      • @Stovetop@lemmy.world
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        421 month ago

        Hah, got me there.

        I did actually meet a North Korean once when I spent a fair bit of time in Seoul during a study abroad program, but she “defected” as a child (read: smuggled into the South via China by some Christian group) and didn’t really have much recollection of what life in the North was even like. Definitely not many though!

        • @slaacaa@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          One of my parents was in North Korea multiple times in the 80s as a tour guide from the Eastern Block, I remember hearing the stories about it when I was a child.

          Cameras being taken, poverty housing blocked off with walls, fake buildings and rooms, US soldiers watching them from the other side of the DMZ “negotiation building”.

          I always took these stories for granted, and didn’t realize for a long time how special and unique these experiences were. When I tell my Western EU colleagues they always drop their jaws.

    • @Valmond@lemmy.world
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      101 month ago

      Hi Kim, me and my whole family wants to def … go to Ukraine and die for you!!

      The whole family!

  • @Linktank@lemmy.today
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    1 month ago

    How pathetic does Russia have to be to be bringing NORTH KOREAN troops into the war. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.

    • @Maalus@lemmy.world
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      571 month ago

      What’s pathetic about it? Cannon fodder is cannon fodder. They can hold a rifle just as well as any other person, and they can use it to kill. Acting like getting foreign troops helping you is somehow beneath you in a war is insane

    • peopleproblems
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      31 month ago

      Its TAU TACTICS!

      LIKE KROOT! with significantly less survival rates and effectiveness which is damn impressive

      • @vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        -21 month ago

        Also the Norks cant eat their enemies and gain their traits, at least I think they cant. Can I setup a test site? I just need a Nork, a MAGA, and a hacksaw.

      • GHiLA
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        201 month ago

        I’ve been deployed to the woods by a country I dislike, to a country I don’t understand under the command of a country I also dislike

        …guess I’ll just leave, then.

        • massive_bereavement
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          11 month ago

          I misread the headline and thought they would be sending more regular troops. Well this is both parts expected and indeed good news.

  • Pyflixia
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    151 month ago

    I want to know if they screamed “FREEEEEDOM!!” while doing it.