Kim Yong-bok was a Korean People's Army general who commanded the 11,000-strong North Korean contingent sent to Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War. He served as deputy chief of the general staff and as commander of the KPA's special forces before rising from obscurity to command the DPRK's expeditionary force in Kursk Oblast. He was reportedly wounded by a Ukrainian airstrike in November 2024 amid the 2024 Kursk offensive.