Category: North Korea

North Korea is continuing to double down on their support to Russia’s war against Ukraine:

North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, although the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday.

“Following about a monthlong lull, North Korean troops were placed back in the frontline region of Kursk starting in the first week of February,” the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a note to the press. 

“It appears that there has been a deployment of additional troops, but their size is still being examined,” the NIS said.

The assessment follows a news report that between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were newly transported to Kursk via Russian cargo ships and military airplanes between January and February in the second round of such troop deployment.

Yonhap

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Honestly I don’t have too much sympathy for people who lose money in bitcoin. The risks of fraud and theft are so well known no one should be surprised if they find themselves getting ripped off by a bitcoin scheme:

A company which fell victim to what’s thought to be the world’s biggest ever theft is seeking to recover some of its losses by crowdsourcing online bounty hunters.

Last week, hackers believed to be from North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group stole $1.46bn (£1.1bn) of cryptocurrency from ByBit, a crypto trading platform.

The criminals are trying to rapidly cash out the hoard through a complex online money laundering process.

ByBit is now offering cash rewards to anyone who spots and prevents them from cashing out.

“Join us on war against Lazarus” the company’s CEO Ben Zhou posted online with a link to a new website offering a bounty to anyone who can help.

Cryptocurrencies are stored in public wallets anyone can look up so it’s possible to follow the money as the criminals split it into smaller chunks and send it through various channels to obscure its origins.

The new website has a live leader board showing companies and individuals who have successfully located some of the coins.

The bounty scheme gives 5% of the sum identified to individuals who successfully persuade a company that has control of the funds to freeze the money. 

It’s also awarding 5% to the companies that take action.

BBC

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The only strategic assets the North Koreans have is ICBMs and nuclear weapons. So if they are going to respond it will be with a ICBM test or a nuclear test:

North Korea warned Saturday it will mobilize “strategic means” against what it called strategic threats from the United States and other adversaries, in response to a joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. involving a U.S. strategic bomber.

The chief of the press office at North Korea’s defense ministry issued a statement after Seoul and Washington staged combined air drills, involving at least one B-1B bomber, on Thursday for the first time since the launch of the Trump administration.

“The DPRK will counter the strategic threat of the U.S. and other enemies with strategic means and continue its responsible military activities to control and manage the unstable security environment on the Korean Peninsula with powerful deterrence,” the official was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This Soldier must not care much about whatever family he has in North Korea because they will assuredly be sent to work camps due to this decision:

One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine has expressed his wish to go to South Korea, a news report said Wednesday, in what would be the first known case for a North Korean captive to voice an intent to defect to the South.

A North Korean solider, identified only by his surname Ri, said in an interview with the Chosun Ilbo that he never knew he would engage in combat against Ukraine as he was told that he would be sent to Russia for training as an overseas student.

“I have made up my mind 80 percent … Above all, I will seek refuge and am thinking about going to the Republic of Korea (ROK). If I apply for asylum, would they take me?” Ri said, when asked about his plan for the future.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I think most people at this point agree with the Kim regime that trying to get them to denuclearize at this point is a hopeless endeavor:

North Korea on Tuesday criticized the United States and Asian neighbors for pursuing the “absurd” goal of denuclearizing the North and said it will push to expand its nuclear forces under the direction of its authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un.

The statement by Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry came after the top diplomats of the U.S., South Korea and Japan met at a security conference in Germany and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening military cooperation and reinforcing an international sanctions regime to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is believed that Kim Jong-un has not been regularly doing events to commemorate his father or grandfather in order to create greater legitimacy for himself:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paid his respects at the mausoleum of his father, late leader Kim Jong-il, on the anniversary of his birthday, state media reported Monday, marking his first reported visit to the family mausoleum on the late leader’s birth anniversary in four years. 

Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun the previous day, on the late leader’s birthday, known as the Day of the Shining Star, accompanied by his powerful sister Kim Yo-jong, party secretaries, Defense Minister No Kwang-chol and others, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

A floral basket was laid in his name before the statues of the late leader and national founder Kim Il-sung, and he paid “homage of immortality and best wishes” to his father, the KCNA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If North Korean artillerymen are manning these systems they are gaining so valuable military experience considering how important artillery fire will be during any contingency on the peninsula:

North Korea is estimated to have sent about 200 pieces of long-range artillery to Russia and is likely to send more troops and weapons in support of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s defense ministry said Tuesday.

The assessment came after South Korea’s spy agency earlier estimated the North to have sent some 11,000 troops to support Russia, of which 300 are believed to have been killed, with some 2,700 others wounded.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Kim Jong-un was going to build his nuclear arsenal further regardless of the military cooperation between the ROK, US, and Japan:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said an elevated U.S. security partnership with South Korea and Japan poses a grave threat to his country and vowed to further bolster his nuclear weapons program, state media reported Sunday.

Kim has previously made similar warnings, but his latest statement implies again that the North Korean leader won’t likely embrace President Donald Trump’s overture to meet him and revive diplomacy anytime soon. In a speech marking the 77th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Saturday, Kim said the U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral security partnership established under a U.S. plot to form a NATO-like regional military bloc is inviting military imbalance on the Korean Peninsula and “raising a grave challenge to the security environment of our state,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“Referring to a series of new plans for rapidly bolstering all deterrence including nuclear forces, he clarified once again the unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” KCNA said.

Stars & Stripes

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Here is the latest on the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia:

This image, captured from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s X account on Jan. 12, 2025, shows a passport he said one of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces was possessing. (Yonhap)

North Korean troops deployed to support Russia’s war against Ukraine appear to have been absent from combat in the front-line Kursk region since mid-January, the spy agency said Tuesday. 

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) disclosed the intelligence, confirming a recent report from The New York Times that North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops in battle against Ukraine have been pulled from the front lines in mid-January due to heavy casualties, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials.

“Since mid-January, there have been no signs showing North Korean troops deployed to the Russian Kursk region engaging in battle,” the NIS said. 

The spy agency echoed the news report, saying that heavy casualties appear to be one reason for the absence of North Korean troops, adding that efforts are under way to determine the exact reason.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If these Soldiers even wanted to return to North Korea, would the Kim regime even allow them? Officially North Korea has never confirmed they are at war with Ukraine. Accepting these Soldiers back would confirm they are in fact fighting against Ukraine:

The Ukrainian government is open to discussions with South Korea regarding the potential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to the South, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko.

While Kyiv has yet to begin formal negotiations with Seoul, Ponomarenko said Ukraine is willing to cooperate on transferring the soldiers if they refuse to return to their home country.

“Given the threat to the life and freedom of North Korean servicemen in the event of their repatriation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and if they refuse to go back, we are open for a dialogue with international partners, in particular the Republic of Korea, regarding the possibilities of their transfer to third countries,” Ponomarenko said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times, referring the two Koreas by their official names.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.