North Korea Is Involved Now, Too
A new army is marching for the front lines of the Ukraine war. Though they are dressed in Russian uniforms, these soldiers are half a world away from their homes. Five thousand miles from their position, in Pyongyang, North Korea, a dictator is directing their movements, ordering his men into a conflict that is now primed to antagonize most of the Western world.
“The deployment of North Korean troops represents … a significant escalation in the DPRK’s ongoing involvement in Russia’s illegal war,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned. “[It is also] yet another breach of UN Security Council resolutions. And … a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
So far, none of the North Korean troops have seen combat. But officials say it’s only a matter of time before Russia takes advantage of its dangerous new weapon.
“This is something that we’re going to continue to watch,” said U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin. “And we’re going to continue working with our allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat.”
North Korean forces are heading for Kursk, a fiercely contested region on the Ukrainian border where Russian control has grown increasingly tenuous in recent weeks. According to the Moscow Times, an independent Russian newspaper, the situation in Kursk represents a significant challenge to Russian military superiority and may even threaten its border sovereignty—and thus it remains a high-priority target for Russian officials.
“The operation in the Kursk region has also sent a powerful signal to allies and those who still believe in Russia’s invincibility,” Dmytro Zhmailo, executive director of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, wrote for the Times. “Every day that Ukrainian forces are in the Kursk region is proof that all the statements about the Kremlin’s red line are meaningless.”
Ukrainians strategists hope North Korean troops won’t bring about the swift regional victory Russia seems to expect. Intelligence suggests that Russian and Korean troops may be struggling to assimilate, fighting over dwindling supplies and language barriers. In an audio recording that allegedly contains intercepted phone calls, Russian soldiers threw harsh insults both at their Korean auxiliaries and their own superior officers.
“I want to kill him today, yes, after the Koreans,” one soldier snapped, after an order was handed down from a superior officer that would deprive Russian troops of already-scarce armored vehicles.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and the rest of the world are watching anxiously as North Korea and Russia keep quiet about the details of their strengthened alliance and what they plan to do with their combined forces.
The U.S. is within range of North Korean ICBM missiles, a fact that came into sharp focus this week with the launch of another long-range ballistic missile from within North Korean borders. The weapon, which splashed harmlessly into the Pacific, could be an early sign of intent to launch a weapon toward the U.S., according to South Korean intelligence.
“It was the longest flying time of any missile so far,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters. “I think it may be different from conventional missiles.”
Only time will tell whether North Korea’s missile launch, its recently positioned mobile launcher, and its seventh nuclear test are more than political posturing. Timing the escalation right before a U.S. presidential election suggests that the North Koreans are taking aim directly at American democracy, a fact that only increases the tension surrounding the highly contested ballot boxes. The economy has taken note of these tensions, with consumers rushing to purchase assets marked as “safe haven” commodities.
“As a brick-and-mortar seller, we are seeing many first-time [gold] buyers,” Nick Fulton, managing partner at USA Pawn, previously told Newsweek. “With gold seeing an increase of 25 percent in value in the last six months, it is attracting new investors.”
So far, there is no word from the White House on a possible U.S. response to conflict abroad, except to note that North Korean troops in Ukraine constitute “legitimate targets” of military operations.
“If [North Korean troops] do deploy to fight against Ukraine, they’re fair game, they’re fair targets, and the Ukrainian military will defend themselves against North Korean soldiers the same way they’re defending themselves against Russian soldiers,” said John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Adviser. “And so the possibility that there could be dead and wounded North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine is absolutely real if they get deployed.”
