North Korea sends thousands of soldiers to help Russia: What's the real deal?
NATO confirms movement of North-Korean troops towards Russian frontline while Pyongyangʼs foreign minister visits Moscow. South-Korea and Ukraine join forces to address this new phase of military cooperation
Recent intel shows North-Koreas military presence in Russia has grown to about 10k troops (a huge jump from just 3000 two weeks ago). The soldiers are getting ready in eastern-Russia learning basic military terms from their new allies
Choe Son Hui‚ North-Koreas foreign minister made her second trip to Russia in just over a month: showing how close these countries have become. While Putin doesnt plan to meet her its clear something big is happening
Zelenskiy and Yoon Suk Yeol had a talk about this new development; both leaders agree that this is making the two-year-old conflict much bigger. Seoul is really worried about what Pyongyang might get from Moscow in return – theyʼre even thinking about sending weapons to Ukraine which they havent done before
This war is becoming internationalized‚ extending beyond two countries
The whole thing started back in summer when Putin and Kim Jong Un signed their help-each-other deal. Since then North-Korea has been sending lots of stuff to Russia including:
- Short-range ballistic missiles
- Artillery shells
- Various military equipment
Even though these NK troops might not change much on the battlefield – they could do basic jobs or guard stuff – its more about showing everyone (especially the US and China) that Russia has friends. Moscow is also helping Pyongyang with their spy-satellite program which makes South-Korea even more nervous
The Pentagon says they wont put new rules on how Ukraine uses US weapons if NK troops join in. Meanwhile South-Korea is sharing more intel with NATO and sent some big-shots to talk with people in Brussels and Kyiv
