The isolationist and communist state of North Korea continues to strive for closer ties with Russia, and Russian state television has revealed this week how dictator Kim Jong Un has offered the Kremlin up to 100,000 “volunteers” to help in the so-called “special military operation” of the Russian president in Ukraine.
Speaking on Russia’s Channel One, host Igor Korotchenko described reports of North Korean soldiers volunteering to “take part in the conflict”.
The Russian TV personality also praised the “great experience of the North Korean military in counter-battery warfare,” which is relevant to the Russian military following the White House’s decision to donate more than a dozen long-range rocket systems. HIMARS.
“If North Korea expresses its desire to fulfill its international duty to fight Ukrainian fascism, we should let them,” Korotchenko continued.
On July 13, North Korea aligned itself with the Russian president’s February decree Vladimir Putin which recognized the independence of the two self-styled “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. North Korea’s Central News Agency, KCNA, confirmed on July 14 that Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui sent letters to his Donetsk and Luhansk counterparts acknowledging their independence from Ukraine.
North Korea became the third country to recognize the independence of Ukraine’s two breakaway regions.
As the Russian economy struggles under the weight of unprecedented Western sanctions, ties between the two countries are expected to deepen. In July, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, revealed his plans to use North Korean builders to help rebuild Donetsk’s infrastructure if Russia wins the war.
Responding to the news, White House National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said it reflected how much economic sanctions had hurt Russia.
“It just shows how isolated Putin is,” Kirby said. “Now it has to turn to North Korea.”
Russia needs the help
Although the Kremlin has not yet confirmed whether or not North Korea will provide these volunteers, there is no doubt that it is a welcome offer.. Last month, Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan told CNN how US lawmakers had been informed of Russia’s huge personnel losses in Ukraine. The lawmaker said that up to 75,000 Russian soldiers have been injured or killed on the battlefield.
“We have been informed that more than 75,000 Russians have been killed or wounded, which is huge. They have invested incredible amounts in their ground forces, over 80% of their ground forces are bogged down and they are tired,” Slotkin said.
CIA Director William Burns also estimated in July that so far about 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and another 45,000 wounded.
With Ukrainian forces pushing back Russian forces in eastern and southern Ukraine, and with more than 50 Russian ammunition depots destroyed by US-supplied HIMARS in recent weeks, Russia is certainly seriously considering the offer of North Korea.
What do the experts think? Would North Korea really send troops to Ukraine?
“I would say that North Korea would send troops to Russia’s aid, however, if asked, although 100,000 seems a bit of a stretch,” argued Harry J. Kazianis, a North Korea expert and now chairman of the bipartisan Rogue States Project. . “Pyongyang would surely be well rewarded for its efforts and give Kim’s forces a chance to prove themselves in battle against a determined force, while also seeing what American weapons can do on the battlefield.” For Kim, it seems like everyone wins.”
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