North Korea’s decision to deploy thousands of troops to Ukraine’s front lines has strengthened Pyongyang’s controversial military alliance with Moscow and drawn Russia deeper into the security of the Korean Peninsula, experts told AFP.
About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already acclimatizing in Russia, likely to soon move to the front lines, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday, with thousands more troops set to depart soon, Pyongyang First such deployment abroad.
The move shows that the military agreement signed by North Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, which included a mutual defense clause, was not just for show.
“It sets up a framework where Russia’s intervention or military support will automatically occur if North Korea is attacked or faces a crisis,” Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.
The fact that North Korean troops will fight alongside Russia in Ukraine proves how “solid” the Putin-Kim agreement really is, Hong said.
And a troop surge from Pyongyang could help Moscow “seize occupied territories or assist in further territorial gains,” he said.
North and South Korea are technically at war because the conflict from 1950 to 1953 ended with an armistice rather than a peace agreement. But while Kim has built a nuclear arsenal, Seoul lacks nuclear weapons of its own.
The South is protected by the so-called US nuclear umbrella, and Seoul and Washington regularly hold large-scale joint military exercises, angering Pyongyang.
By sending troops to Russia, Hong said, Kim may hope to create a more integrated North Korean and Russian military deterrent similar to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, potentially resulting in “a significant shift” in Korea’s security dynamics. Is.
‘Significant change’
Ukraine’s state-run Center for Strategic Communications released a video on Friday purportedly showing North Korean troops setting up what appears to be a Russian military camp, preparing to engage Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
In the footage, a soldier appeared to tell his comrades to “move forward” in a North Korean accent.
Seoul’s spy agency told AFP it was “inappropriate” for them to comment on material released by another country’s government.
Experts said the deployment gives North Korea’s elite troops a chance to experience modern warfare, and a chance to see how the country’s domestic weapons – which Seoul has long accused Kim of sending to Russia – How they perform on the battlefield.
Lee Sang-min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyzes, told AFP it could also be an attempt by Kim to boost his international stature and negotiating position ahead of next month’s US elections.
“One way to attract global attention by doing something reprehensible is to send troops to support the war in Ukraine, which could prolong the conflict or shift it in Russia’s favor,” he said.
war economy
For Russia, the benefits of the North Korean deployment are clear, said Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korea studies at the University of Oslo.
“Russia’s main obstacle is a lack of both military and labor manpower, and North Korea has a huge untapped potential to mitigate both,” he told AFP.
Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest level in years, with Kim stressing on Thursday that the country had abandoned “the unreasonable idea of reunification.”
Experts said Pyongyang could also use Ukraine as a means to realign its foreign policy.
According to analysts, by sending troops, North Korea is positioning itself as a supplier of weapons, military aid and labor within the Russian war economy – potentially even bypassing its traditional ally, neighbor and main trading partner, China. Is.
“This means Pyongyang will not be motivated to improve relations with Japan, South Korea and the United States,” Tikhonov said.
“This means a continued state of tension on the Korean Peninsula.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
