In response to that Pyongyang announced early this week that it will be sending troops in the form of a military engineering unit to support Russian forces on the ground in the Donetsk region. The troops are expected to arrive on the battlefield as soon as next month.
One engineering unit isn’t much, but perhaps there is more to come. It didn’t say anything in the article about future commitments.
Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian member of parliament told the UK’s Daily Express that North Korea has become an important bridge between the Kremlin and China. Beijing can indirectly transfer military equipment to Moscow through Pyongyang without falling foul of Western sanctions.
As he explained: “North Korea is one of key Russian partners and the meaning of the rationale behind them becoming such a partner is because they are acting as a bridge between China and Russia.
“Essentially all the military equipment that is delivered from North Korea was developed for the North Koreans by the Chinese.
Perhaps this is less about North Korea then it appears on the surface. I wonder what Russia is giving China for this help?
Sometime back kim was crying so that women make more babies, now he is sending men to his friend. And we know the mortality rate of North Korea. I have never seen a country run out of people, I think I will see it soon
Not a single one of those support troops has any combat experience.
So good luck, guys.
North Korea has had surprisingly close ties with various African states going back to the Cold War and NK mercenaries have served in Syria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, and South Africa in the relatively recent past.
NKers also have an active role in state-sanctioned smuggling and piracy. I think you’d be surprised how much combat experience they’ve accrued.
And they’ll still be the most experienced combat troops Putin can field. At least they get lots of practice marching up and down the square.
If US and NATO are supporting Ukraine I didn’t see what’s the problem if China and North Korea support Russia…
You don’t see the difference in supporting a country defending itself from being invaded versus aiding a country that is invading?
They probably don’t see it, no.
Tankies are too busy being edgy to care about glaring nuance.
Go home vatnik
Financial support and sending foreign soldiers directly to the frontline are two very different kinds of involvement. Imagine the Russian freakout if NATO actually sent soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Maybe the North Koreans will actually speed that process up.
If China directly supports Russia NATO will throw sanctions on them and that will hurt China. China is supporting Russia, but they are walking a find line as China cannot afford to make NATO mad. (NATO also will hurt, which is why NATO is looking the other way, but how long will NATO put up with China is an open question)
All the west should sanction China. But we need to have toilet paper production back onshore first.
I don’t think anyone is saying they shouldn’t be allowed to do it; just that they think it’s going to go poorly
Also I would add that it’s a moderately dire sign as far as the state of Russia’s manpower levels. Every country at war desperately wants more soldiers at all times but some desperates are more desperate than other desperates.
These guys will have a better time in Ukrainian captivity than 99% of the population at home…
Maybe even food and medication against tap worms? I’m in!
I hope everyone that keeps down voting me for talking about WW3 are right…
But man, it really is starting to look like WW3
a yes, one country against the entire world, truly the ww3 of all times, we downvote your take is stupid
They didn’t start calling WWII what it is until 1944, but I think we can all agree it didn’t start in 1944.
Just like later historians placed the start of WWII on multiple different events depending on which country you’re in, the start of World War III will be long before we start calling it that.
I’m in the camp that the start of WW3 will be the Russian invasion of Ukraine if things continue to escalate the way they’re going, because that’s when you really started seeing lines being drawn between the axis and allies.
Russia, China, Iran, and NK are the most recognizable names that have aligned themselves with the axis so far.
The lines are already drawn and future events will dictate whether or not we’re currently living in WW3 today.And some would argue that WW1 was WW2 and WW2 WAS WW3. The 7 years war/French and Indian (not French vs Indian) war are commonly referred to as the real first world war. And then the Nepoleonic wars are similarly thought of by some to have been a world war of sorts
WWI was called the great war, and the war to end all wars until WWII broke out. I sometimes call WWII just the great war part 2 - the treaties that “ended” WWI were clearly setup (on hindsight!) to make the war break out again in the future when Germany got sick of those treaties.
The point is names are added after the fact and often don’t make a lot of sense if you know details.
For sure, I know allll about that stuff (former history teacher)
I’m wondering what Kim gets from this though?
I honestly think he might legitimately believe that a couple platoons of NK soldiers will clear this whole mess right up and then the world will have to take them seriously.
The North Korean leadership is not exactly well known for their excellent grasp of reality.
My thought is maybe either food or arms or research for arms production/nukes from the Russians.
Edit Addendum: the article says as much actually lol. This is what I get for just trying to get an idea of NK actions from the title.
But man, it really is starting to look like WW3
It looks more like Crimean War II to me.
Pretty asymmetric that isn’t it. On one side you have a nation that is rapidly running out of, well basically everything, and on the other side you’ve got an alliance of nation states which contain among many other things the largest most powerful military on the planet.
Finally the nation that is running out of resources is now getting military support from quite possibly the worst place they could get it from.
It’s going to be one of those ridiculous situations that only happens in Civilization, where you’re bombing cavemen with nukes because your adversary has failed to advance through the tech tree fast enough.
Unfortunately China is not running out of everything and they are looking like they might back Russia here. Iran is also backing Russia and not to be underestimated.
To me it looks like N Korea wanting to acquire some direct combat experience to continue to develop their skills and capabilities.
But yes, personally I was not expecting this.
Skill acquired: cannon fodder
Not really, proxy wars have been fought with multiple nations before.
… practically everyone was in Syria… Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Qatar, The USA, ISIS, Al-queda, and Syrian forces.
We’re getting a lot closer to a bigger global conflict as NK troops and American Military contractors begin to enter the fray. Anyone else feel like were inching closer to World War than we’ve been since the last one ended?
WW3 started two years ago
This isn’t going to do anything. First of all, North Korea is probably not going to send battle ready soldiers to a foreign country. There’s really no reason for it. They might send ditch diggers for trenches.
Second of all, this isn’t going to move the needle on the battlefield. Russia already has more troops than Ukraine. They need more and better arms and ammunition, plus better support, training, airplanes, missiles, drones, commanders, etc. Basically Russia needs a completely different military.
I don’t think what the soldiers end up doing makes it less international of a conflict. The point was there’s going to be sizesble amounts of foreign boots on the groun on both sides. That necessarily increases the international scope of the conflict beyond funding a proxy war.
We’ve been inching closer and closer ever since 2014. Is not an excuse to abandon Ukraine though. Russia won’t stop cause we give them some land.
Appeasement didn’t stop Hitler in the 30s and 40s. It won’t stop Putin now. It never works.
There’s a literal world of space between appeasing Putin and putting foreign soldiers on the battlefield. It’s not an either or.
So did I hear that the US is considering letting “contractors” take Ukrainian contracts? Blackrock would ruin these morons!
So did I hear that the US is considering letting “contractors” take Ukrainian contracts?
The US has been sending “advisers” into Ukraine since the war began. And we’ve had intelligence officers in this country for decades.
Blackrock would ruin these morons!
Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious, and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy. The fact is, they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you.
Someone read the prince :P
So it’s OK for Ukraine to invite friends along to help too?
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the US announced it would lift the ban on American contractors going to Ukraine at the same time as this. Russia reaps what it sows. Ukraine gets highly payed and skilled contractors, in return, Russia gets malnourished and untrained Korean conscripts.
Russia gets malnourished and untrained Korean conscripts.
Just offer them all plane tickets to South Korea. Problem solved.
I dont think it’s quite the same thing though. US contractors won’t be fighting, I think they’ll just be maintaining and repairing equipment.
Arguably, a much more critical job for a capital-intensive army.
The North Koreans are perfect for the Russian tactic of forcing the Ukrainians to deplete their ammo by throwing meat at them.
I wonder if many will even fight? If I were from North Korea, I’d consider surrender to be a godsend. They would do terrible things to the family members, though… I guess that’s the true cruelty of regimes like this. They punish the people you love.
The best tactic Ukraine could have at this point would just be to encourage the North Koreans to defect. Can’t imagine it’ll be particularly difficult, “hey switch sides and we won’t kill you, and here’s a free house with electricity, water and indoor plumbing”.
It would be like trying to convince people to leave the 15th century.
… “and don’t worry about your family back home in North Korea who will be compressed into tinned meal”.
The defection rate will be low I suspect. It’s an automatic TFK (total family kill) to defect and I doubt they’ll send anyone who don’t have family at home in Glorious Motherland!
According to Russian propaganda Ukraine has been doing just that the entire time, but if it actually happened that would be yet another red line to cross.
What a perfect time to act.
Not to worry! Li’l Kim’s Bestest Buddy and Honorary Number One Chief Saluter will be ready to help NK help Russia destroy Ukraine and NATO.
All you MAGA service “losers” and “suckers” got quite the cognitive dissonance jam rockin’ huh.
They’ll doublethink their way out of it somehow.
That military man looked really important. Even a king would salute.
I hate this dunk because it’s clearly shown in the original video that the DPRK officer saluted Trump first. The president salutes like fifty Marines every single day, it’s not strange for him to reflexively salute someone else without thinking about it.
Probably best not to be running on autopilot around North Fucking Koreans though.
It was a diplomatic meeting, what were they gonna do? Kidnap the president of the united states?
Eh, in Trump’s case it was best to be running in autopilot… His tweets were him “thinking”
To be fair, the orange rapist found some good speed on that trip
We’ll get to see US weapons killing North Koreans AND Russians? Is this Christmas?
That’s gross.
You realize these are real people, war is so sad and you are comparing it to Christmas :(
We aint the ones sending them to their deaths, its a waste of human life but one we cant do jackshit about without escalating which most folks dont want. So that leaves us with only a handful of options all with the same end result, fuck all. Id rather laugh than feel sick to the stomach with rage.
can we get 1 like for the brave soldiers
Does north korea have actually good military power? I’ve seen their parades here and there, but does anyone know if they have updated equipment, trained military personnel, good intelligence, etc?
Military is the only thing they have. It might not be the most modern, but they have more artilery shells than any other country. Other stockpiles are huge AF as well. Almost 4% of their population are in active military service and 2% more are reservists. In terms of head count, they have almost as many active personel as Russia while having a fraction of population. Plenty of disposable meat!
Agreed that they have a pretty big military in terms of raw numbers. I’m not going to discuss quality because the biggest question mark here is force projection.
How are they planning on sending over any significant manpower and supplies across 2800km?
They don’t even have a navy capable of circumnavigating the korean peninsula, much less make the trip to Ukraine or the wrong side of Russia.
They have 2 transport aircraft, the bigger of the 2 has a max passenger capacity of 44 pax. Neither of those have the range to get near Ukraine when flying fully fueled, nevermind if it were fully loaded.
How are they planning on sending over any significant manpower and supplies across 2800km?
Rail? They border Russia and there’s a railroad over the border
I didn’t know this, damn, that’s moving a lot of troops across ~8.000 km
There is rail and I’m pretty sure Russia still has plenty of cargo/transport planes that would be capable.
It’s all smoke and mirrors, the majority of their stockpiles would be bordering on defunct. Modern equipment they have is far and few between, their training is subpar.
Plenty of disposable meat is certainly correct though!
They can meet up with the Cameroonian and Iraqi olympic teams for lunch.
