South Korea’s intelligence agency revealed on Friday that troops from North Korea, a communist dictatorship that hates our guts — have been sent to help Russia in its conflict with Ukraine, which is a new development that could potentially increase the chances of a third global conflict. It really does feel like things are inevitably heading that direction, doesn’t it? With everything exploding in the Middle East and this war between Russia and Ukraine now involving a third country, are we simply a matter of time away from seeing World War III? Scary times.
The National Intelligence Service put out a statement on its website, saying that Russian navy ships have transferred 1,500 North Korean special forces troops to the port city of Vladivostok between the dates of October 8 and 13. They are now undergoing training to prepare to enter the battlefield. Folks, this is bad.
“The North Korean soldiers … are expected to be deployed to the frontlines as soon as they complete their adaptation training,” the agency went to state, adding that more North Korean troops were expected to be sent to Russia sometime in the near future.
“It appears that they disguised themselves as Russian soldiers to hide the fact that they were deployed to the battlefield,” the agency’s statement revealed.
Check out more from The Guardian:
The NIS also published satellite and other photos showing what it calls Russian navy ship movements near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in the past week in the far-eastern Russian cities of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk. The statement was the most comprehensive official report to date detailing North Korean involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine. If proved accurate, it would amount to North Korea’s first major participation in a foreign war. Additionally, South Korean media said on Friday, citing anonymous sources, that Pyongyang had decided to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops, formed into four brigades, to Russia. The NIS did not immediately confirm these reports.
The statements come a day after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said his country had intelligence reports that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to enter the war. “This is the first step to a world war,” he told reporters in Brussels.
JUST IN: 🇰🇵🇷🇺 North Korean soldiers in Russia preparing to enter the war with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1D5R5idHeC
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) October 18, 2024
On Friday the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, demanded an “immediate and strong reaction” from Kyiv’s allies. “Russia seriously escalates its aggression by involving DPRK [North Korea] on a war party scale,” he said. “We require an immediate and strong reaction from the Euro-Atlantic community and the world.”
Unsurprisingly, the Russian government is in full denial about the use of North Korean troops being deployed to help in their invasion of Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesmen for the Kremlin, waved off the allegations during a press conference held last week, saying it was just “another piece of fake news.”
A source within Ukraine told the publication, “There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles.”
If confirmed, South Korean intelligence suggests that North Korea plans to engage in the war beyond merely sending military advisers. The extraordinary move also highlights Russia’s need to find new military personnel, amid reports of record casualties.
We need good leadership now more than ever. Neither Joe Biden or Kamala Harris are going to cut it.
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