North Korea will stand by Russia until its victory in Ukraine, Pyongyang's foreign minister said in Moscow Friday, as the United States warned thousands of North Korean troops could be sent to combat in the Ukraine conflict in the coming days.
At this point, I think the Korean troops are there not only to get critical experience but as a reserve force so that Russia can push forward without leaving the homeland under-protected.
A reminder that so far all we have to go on are Western and Ukrainian officials saying DPRK troops are being deployed in Russia to attack Ukraine with no evidence. The only credible evidence we have is a few Tik Tok videos posted by Russian soldiers, showing soldiers picking up uniforms in a military camp in Siberia. The makers of the videos claim these are North Koreans, and some random South Korean internet users are saying they can pick up a few words in Korean being spoken by these soldiers.
While totally fair, we also have the recent military agreement between Russia and Korea. It’s not entirely clear why the US would be lying about it as it’s not clear what they could really do with it. I can see Zelensky using it to try to get the US more involved, but I don’t see the US angle here. Help me?
The US is going along because of elections, and the funding of Ukraine is an issue. Adding hated enemies to the pot makes it more desirable.
I’m not saying there’s no possibility DPRK sent troops. I’m saying we don’t know how true it is, and we shouldn’t operate as if this is a certainty. It plays into Ukrainian propaganda if we do.
If Ukraine and the West had evidence they’d show it already.
The DPRK minister going to Russia and saying “we’ll support Russia until victory” might seem a bit suspect, but it doesn’t actually say anything concrete.
At this point, I think the Korean troops are there not only to get critical experience but as a reserve force so that Russia can push forward without leaving the homeland under-protected.
That’s very plausible actually.
A reminder that so far all we have to go on are Western and Ukrainian officials saying DPRK troops are being deployed in Russia to attack Ukraine with no evidence. The only credible evidence we have is a few Tik Tok videos posted by Russian soldiers, showing soldiers picking up uniforms in a military camp in Siberia. The makers of the videos claim these are North Koreans, and some random South Korean internet users are saying they can pick up a few words in Korean being spoken by these soldiers.
While totally fair, we also have the recent military agreement between Russia and Korea. It’s not entirely clear why the US would be lying about it as it’s not clear what they could really do with it. I can see Zelensky using it to try to get the US more involved, but I don’t see the US angle here. Help me?
The military agreement is not in effect yet.
The US is going along because of elections, and the funding of Ukraine is an issue. Adding hated enemies to the pot makes it more desirable.
I’m not saying there’s no possibility DPRK sent troops. I’m saying we don’t know how true it is, and we shouldn’t operate as if this is a certainty. It plays into Ukrainian propaganda if we do.
If Ukraine and the West had evidence they’d show it already.
The DPRK minister going to Russia and saying “we’ll support Russia until victory” might seem a bit suspect, but it doesn’t actually say anything concrete.