As has been predicted here by myself and other ROK Heads, North Korean troops are being used to push Ukrainian troops out of Russia’s Kursk region:
The United States confirmed Tuesday that North Korean troops, who have been deployed to Russia’s western front-line Kursk region, have begun engaging in combat operations against Ukrainian forces.
Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, made the remarks amid growing concerns that the North’s troop deployment could expand Moscow’s protracted war in Ukraine with security implications for both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. (…..)
“Today, I can confirm that over 10,000 DPRK soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces,” he added.
You can read more at the link, but using the North Koreans to fight in Kursk makes sense because Russia would then not need to redeploy their own troops continuing their long grinding offensive in Ukraine.
The propaganda balloon wars between South and North Korea could now spread to Ukraine and Russia:
A group of North Korean defectors delivered propaganda leaflets to Ukraine on Monday, encouraging North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia to defect, as thousands of North Korean troops have been sent to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The “Defectors’ Propaganda Corps,” comprising North Korean soldiers-turned-defectors and defectors whose sons served in the North Korean military, delivered the propaganda leaflets to the Embassy of Ukraine in Seoul for the distribution to North Korean soldiers in Russia, the group said.
The leaflets carry messages encouraging North Korean troops to defect, along with instructions on how to defect. Audio files with similar messages were also delivered to the embassy.
You can read more at the link, but if Ukraine sends propaganda balloons towards North Korean troops in Russia, I wonder if Kim Jong-un will have his troops send garbage balloons into Ukraine in response?
This is actually a pretty good deal for the Kim regime considering they only sent what appears to be a few thousand troops to Russia:
Rep. Wi Sung-lac, who was Seoul’s ambassador to Russia, told The Korea Herald that entering the war against Ukraine is “not a bad deal at all” for North Korea.
For one thing, the country’s financial and food crises are largely taken care of by Russian compensation for its contribution to the war effort, said Wi, who was briefed by the NIS as a member of the National Assembly intelligence committee.
The NIS reported to the Assembly last week that each North Korean soldier sent to fight for Russia would be paid a monthly wage of around $2,000. At least 10,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to be headed for Ukraine, translating to yearly revenue of well over $200 million, the lawmaker said.
In addition to troops, about 4,000 North Korean workers are currently in Russia, according to the NIS. Their average wage is thought to be about $800 a month.
Wi said every year on average, North Korea produces around 4 million tons of grain such as rice, barley and wheat, according to its own announcement. But most of the country’s “rice production” is actually potatoes, with rice thought to make up less than a third of the total, he explained.
“The 4 million tons of grains that North Korea says it produces per year are actually about 1 million tons short of what it needs to feed the country. If Russia is offering 600,000 to 700,000 tons of rice, that is enough to cover more than half of what North Korea would need to meet the year’s demand,” he said.
You can read more at the link.
Who knows how true this is, but apparently 7,000 North Koreans are now deployed near Ukraine’s border with Russia:
Kyiv’s defense intelligence agency has said Russia appears to have deployed more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers, armed with AK-12 rifles, mortar rounds and other assault weapons, to areas near the border with Ukraine.
South Korea and the West have warned that North Korean troops in Russia may soon enter into combat against Ukraine that would pose a major security threat to both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) said on Saturday (local time) that Russia moved more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers from Russia’s coastal region to areas near Ukraine last week.
“The North Korean troops were moved to the frontline with the help of at least 28 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” the DIU said on its website.
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the initial wave of 1,500 North Korean special operations troops sent to Russia are going to be used to try and help push Ukrainian troops out of the Russian territory of Kursk:
Russia is using civilian-plated trucks to transport “mercenaries” from North Korea to a frontline area, Ukraine’s military intelligence service has said, amid concerns over North Korean troops possibly joining combat in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
On Sunday, Russian police officers stopped a truck with civilian license plates carrying North Korean military personnel on the Kursk-Voronezh highway, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said, noting the driver did not have a combat order.
The announcement comes amid reports of North Korean troops gathering in Russia’s southwestern region of Kursk, where a major Ukrainian incursion took place in August.
You can read more at the link.
The big question is whether the ROK will provide advanced military weapons to Ukraine for free or for sale:
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that South Korea could consider providing arms to Ukraine, depending on the extent of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, vowing not to “sit idle” in response to Pyongyang’s troop dispatch to Russia.
Yoon made the remarks after a summit with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Seoul, during which both leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia and agreed to strengthen joint responses to growing security threats.
You can read more at the link.
What is Russia going to do, fund the North Korean regime and assist them with their missile programs? They are already doing this:
Russia’s foreign ministry warned Wednesday that South Korea could face “security consequences” if it gets involved in the war in Ukraine, as Seoul has vowed to take “phased” measures in response to growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Maria Zakharova, the ministry’s spokesperson, issued the warning as Seoul announced its plan Tuesday to take the measures following its spy agency’s confirmation that Pyongyang plans to dispatch around 10,000 soldiers to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, including some 1,500 troops that it has already sent.
“They should think about the security consequences if it gets involved in the Ukrainian crisis,” she said during a press briefing through an English-language interpreter. “The Russian Federation will react on those aggressive steps, if our citizens are under threats, under peril.”
You can read more at the link.
