North Korean soldiers march during a mass rally in Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang i 2018
Published October 15, 2024
Sending solders to help Russia’s war effort against Ukraine could earn valuable foreign currency for Kim Jong Un’s regime and bolster their strengthening ties.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week confirmed reports of North Korean troops supporting Russians inside Ukraine, warning that the alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang is growing stronger and evolving beyond transferring weapons.
A Ukranian military intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonimity, to discuss a sensitive security matter, told the Washinton Post, last week “several thousand” North Korean Infantry soldiers are undergoing training in Russia now and could be deployed to the front line in Ukraine by the end of this year.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-Hyun last week called the reports of North Korean military personnel helping Russia “highly likely” The Kremlin has dismissed tje assertion as a “Hoax”.
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SOURCE: www.washingtonpost.com
RELATED: North Korea sending citizens to help Russian military fight Ukraine, Zelensky says
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in June, the first visit of its kind in more than two decades.
Published October 15, 2024
North Korea is sending its citizens to help Russia’s military fight Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said, increasing concerns about the alliance between Moscow and the secretive state.
In his daily video message on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said: “We see an increasing alliance between Russia and regimes like North Korea. It is no longer just about transferring weapons. It is actually about transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces.”
Zelensky’s allegation comes amid an increasingly friendly relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June – the first visit of its kind for more than two decades – and Western observers have wondered how heavily North Korea has assisted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Obviously, in such circumstances, our relations with our partners need to be developed. The frontline needs more support,” Zelensky added, reiterating his plea for Western nations to allow Kyiv to use long-range missiles in Russian territory.
A source in Ukrainian intelligence, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, told CNN last week that a small number of North Koreans have been working with the Russian military, mostly to help with engineering and to exchange information on the use of North Korean ammunition. Some of them were recently killed in eastern Ukraine, the source said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday dismissed allegations that North Korean personnel had been sent to help Russia as “another hoax.”
But South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said last week it is monitoring developments and believes the claim could be accurate.
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SOURCE: www.cnn.com
