South Korea warns of risk of North Korean entry into Ukraine war
South Korean intelligence services have warned of a possible deployment of some 12,000 North Korean military personnel in Ukraine to fight on behalf of Russia.
According to South Korean intelligence, North Korean special forces have already positioned themselves in the Russian enclave of Vladivostok, it has been announced in an official statement after various intelligence sources warned official South Korean media that Pyongyang was finalising the deployment of 12,000 members of North Korean special forces to fight alongside the Russian army on Ukrainian territory.
According to South Korea's official intelligence services, some 1,500 members of North Korea's special military forces have been deployed in Vladivostok since 8 October, which could allegedly be a prelude to actual military assistance.
The troops arrived in Russia on four landing ships and three frigates belonging to the Russian Navy that were sent on this mission to North Korea. An unprecedented manoeuvre since 1990, according to intelligence sources.
South Korean intelligence also officially stated that these detachments received Russian uniforms and weaponry, along with fake identification cards to go to fight on the Ukrainian battlefield. According to the statement, these North Korean military personnel receive a training period after which they could jump into Ukrainian territory to fight alongside the Russian Armed Forces.
South Korean intelligence services warned months ago about North Korea supplying ammunition and missiles to Russia for the military campaign in Ukraine.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol convened an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss North Korean support for Russia, the presidential office in Seoul said shortly after the intelligence reports became known.
The West has always viewed the political and diplomatic relationship between Russia and North Korea with suspicion, as the dictatorial North Korean regime needs international partners in the face of its political isolation by most of the world, and Vladimir Putin's regime is interested in allies in the face of its military invasion of Ukraine, which has been flatly rejected by much of the international community as well.
Fears grew even greater when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last June to seek more weapons in the face of the shortages that the Russian army was beginning to experience on Ukrainian territory.
This was the first time a Russian leader had travelled to North Korea in 24 years.
Kim Jong-un already signalled to Vladimir Putin during the June visit his ‘unwavering support for Russia's policies, including on Ukraine’. The North Korean leader also expressed his ‘solidarity’ with Moscow's duty to ‘protect its sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity’, referring to the disputed Donbas territories in Ukraine claimed by Russia that were the excuse for the start of military hostilities against the Ukrainian neighbour, along with the threat of the possible presence of Western forces on a critical Russian border.
Russia has perhaps found in North Korea an ally that could potentially be willing to enter effectively on its side in the Ukrainian war, something that is very difficult for any other international ally of the Russian regime, such as China. The Asian giant is a valuable trading and political partner for Russia in the face of the isolation and sanctions imposed on Russia by the West for its invasion of Ukraine, but not to the point of giving clear and unequivocal support to Russia in the face of a military invasion such as the one it is carrying out on Ukrainian territory.