North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un sends more troops into the ‘meat grinder’ Russian war on Ukraine – amid fears Moscow will reward him with weapons technology, boosting his nuke programme
South Korea’s spy agency has warned North Korean leader has sent additional troops to Russia – preparing to send them into the war in Ukraine.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is trying to determine exactly how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia. The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has already confirmed North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces.
North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence officials. North Korean soldiers have become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain. They have suffered enormour losses, according to sources.
In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured. Mr Zelensky earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though US estimates were lower at around 1,200. South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000-3,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and February.
South Korea, the US and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia as well. During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the US agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials were not present at the talks.
Russia has suffered large-scale losses in the war, with Ukraine claiming more than 800,000 troops have become casualties and as many as 9,000 tanks destroyed, plus dozens of waroplanes and helicopters. Drone warfare is raging on the eastern frontline, whilst future US aid to Ukraine is looking unstable, with US President Donald Trump’s pro-Vladimir Putin stance which has emerged recently.
It has marked an extraordinary shift in US foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine. Observers fear North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could send more troops to Russia to win further Russian assistance before the war ends.