Bloomberg: North Korea may send 100 000 troops to Ukraine

North Korea may deploy up to 100 000 troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine if the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow continues to deepen.

This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to sources.

For now, this step is not inevitable. But Bloomberg notes that military support for North Korea in such quantities will not be deployed immediately. These will be "parties" of soldiers who will be placed on the battlefield gradually and with rotations.

Bloomberg writes that the participation of the North Korean military in the war in Ukraine worries Ukrainian allies. They believe that deepening cooperation between the Russian Federation and North Korea may also affect the security balance in the Indo-Pacific region, where the rivalry between China and the United States is growing.

The issue was raised at the G-20 summit in Brazil this week, notably by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to German officials, Scholz is pressuring the Chinese leader to use his influence on the Russian Federation and North Korea to avoid "further escalation of the war."

The participation of the military of North Korea in the war in Ukraine

On October 24, Ukrainian intelligence reported that the first soldiers from the DPRK had already arrived at the front — in the Kursk region. There are approximately 12 000 military personnel, including 500 officers and three generals.

On November 6, the American newspaper The New York Times wrote that the North Korean troops suffered their first losses in the battles against Ukraine. The North Koreans fought together with the Russian 810 separate brigade of marines. It is not clear when exactly the battle took place, but it was small and there the Koreans suffered their first losses.

According to the publicationʼs sources, Russia has assembled a group of 50,000 soldiers for the offensive in the Kursk region. The North Koreans are trained in artillery fire, basic infantry tactics and, most importantly, trench clearing, US officials say. This means that at least part of the military from North Korea will be used in frontal attacks on Ukrainian positions.

The participation of North Koreans in the battles against Ukraine was also confirmed in the USA and South Korea.

• North Korea and Russia recently ratified the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that their leaders signed in June. Among other things, it contains a pact on mutual defense. During her visit to Moscow in early November 2024, the head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry stated that the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un had ordered to help the Russian army since the beginning of the great war.

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