A Truly Unholy Alliance

"[North Korea sending troops to help Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine would represent a] huge [escalation risk]."

"This is a huge threat of further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine."

"There is a big risk of it growing out of its current scale and borders."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha 

"[Such a development would] push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage."

"[Such a move would signal that Moscow was struggling in the war. But] it would be serious and push the conflict into a new stage, an additional escalatory stage."

"A Russian victory would be a consecration for the law of the strongest and would push the international order toward chaos."

"That is why our exchanges should allow us to make progress on President Zelenskyy’s victory plan and rally the greatest number possible of countries around it."

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot

 

"At this moment, our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are actively now as soldiers engaged in the war effort [on behalf of Russia, in its full military invasion of Ukraine]."

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte 

Seoul says North Korea's plan to deploy troops to fight with Russia is a "grave security threat". North Korea has started sending troops to fight alongside Russia. Reuters

 

And nor can the United States yet confirm media reports on the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia, even as Vladimir Putin dismisses the reports circulating on social media as South Korea corroborates Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's claims that the bodies of North Korean soldiers have been found on the battlefield alongside those of members of the Russian military.

The affirmation by South Korea was released a day following Mr. Zelenskyy's revelation that his government is in possession of intelligence that ten thousand troops from North Korea are in the process of joining Russian forces fighting his country's military for the Kremlin's aspirational goal of wrenching greater tracts of Ukrainian sovereign land to add to Russia's grasping territorial ambitions.

Ukraine's National Intelligence Service elaborated on the rumours, adding that Russian navy ships have transferred 1,500 North Korean special operations forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok; as the initial tranche arrived between October 8 to the 13th. Additional North Korean troops are set shortly to join them.

"They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free Russian units for fighting elsewhere."

"I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line."

Valeriy Ryabykh, editor, Ukrainian publication Defence Express

Video appears to show North Korean soldiers receiving uniforms and equipment at Russian training base   CNN

 

According to Ukraine's National Intelligence Service, North Korean soldiers who have been deployed in Russia are given Russian military uniforms, weapons and forged identification documents; they are staying at the present time, at military bases in Vladivostok as well as other sites in Russia such as Ussuriysk, Khabrovsk and Blagoveshchensk. Rumour has it that their training will be deemed complete at such time as they are able to pronounce the names of the Russian towns correctly. Once their adaption training has been completed, it is assumed they will be deployed to battle grounds.

 

Photos showing what the National Intelligence Service calls Russian navy ship movements close to a North Korean port posted by the NIS and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in Ussuriysk and Khaarovsk in the week just past led South Korean media, citing the NIS reporting, that a total of 12,000 troops formed into four brigades are to be dispatched to Russia.

Should these announcements be confirmed, the situation would represent North Korea's first major involvement in a foreign war. The secretive 'hermit' country has one of the largest standing militaries in the world, at 1.2 million troops, but has never before fought in large-scale conflicts since the 1950-53 Korean war.

Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last summer signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance to each other if either is attacked. | Pool photo by Vladimir Smirnov/AFP via Getty Images