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.
imagine them seeing the drone for the first time.
Hearing
For the first and last time 😟
🌻
Hey (pointing skywards), is that a dro…
An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilizations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop.
Not sure they even hear them. I’ve watched 1,000 Russians die, clueless anything was targeting them.
Some, it depends how high they are. I’ve also seen a lot of em being chased. It’s good for the lulz.
You’re also used to standing around guarding a border all the time, not experiencing actual combat at all.
And by “guarding the border” it really means “shooting anyone trying to escape”
Please write this novel.
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).
Yeah, a fictional account of a current situation is pretty preposterous, you’re right. Dunno what I was thinking.
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.
That’s actually pretty good! Sure, lots of tweaking to be done, but pretty good overall.
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!
you are confronted by* weapons
Well that’s one way to escape North Korea I guess.
my first thought when nk sent troops was what an opportunity to get out of nk.
NK probably loves the idea of less people?
They aren’t going to want those 3000 troops coming back and talking about their time in the west.
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.
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.
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.
I know a good number of North Koreans…
How do you know so many North Koreans?
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!
One is more than a lot of us can claim.
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.
I’m a quarter NK. All the NKs I know are dead tho
Nice try, Kim!
Hi Kim, me and my whole family wants to def … go to Ukraine and die for you!!
The whole family!
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I just hope they are all single and don’t have families left.
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.
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
Sadly, this.
Fictional, but
ONE OUT OF TWO GETS RIFLE. THE ONE WITHOUT, FOLLOWS HIM! WHEN THE ONE WITH THE RIFLE GETS KILLED, THE ONE WHO IS FOLLOWING PICKS UP THE RIFLE AND SHOOTS!
Probably my third favorite Jude Law roll.
1 and 2 are?
I would say his character in A.I. would be my second favorite. Maybe not the greatest film, but he did a great job in his role. #1 would definitely be I ♡ Huckabees. Such a great movie, and great cast too.
Is this fictional? I thought that this was actually true from the Social Union in WWII. Maybe in the battle of Stalingrad?
I’m just saying there isn’t anything further down in the barrel.
Its TAU TACTICS!
LIKE KROOT! with significantly less survival rates and effectiveness which is damn impressive
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.
You don’t want that. A MAGA Nork would become he next Republican nominee
18 doesn’t seem like many. North Korea must have sent thousands
I think I read somewhere 3000 to that unit / region
Around 10k total I think
This is great news. OTOH, these deserters condemned 3 generations of their family back home.
North Korean battle theme in Ukraine:
I imagine the sound from when you lose on The Price is Right.
With the yodeling guy going up the ramp just before!
I’ll file this under “Most Easily Predicted Outcome.”
The best news.
How come?
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.
Ukraine needs to kill fewer N. Koreans now. That’s a plus.
I misread the headline and thought they would be sending more regular troops. Well this is both parts expected and indeed good news.
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Probably but I don’t think they screamed in English.
Liberrrrtad!
Yeah they’ll do that. You gotta make people want to stay
Hm…
