North Korean soldiers have likely been killed fighting for the Kremlin on the front lines in Ukraine, South Korea has said.
Kim Yong-hyun, South Korea’s defence minister, said reports that six North Korean officers were killed last week in a missile strike near Donetsk were “highly likely”.
He said: “We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely.”
Speculation that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, would send his soldiers to fight in Ukraine for Russia has been rife but this would be the first known evidence of them being stationed on or near the front line.
Analysts said the six officers may have been helping to manage supplies of North Korea’s missiles and artillery shells that Kim has been sending to the Kremlin for more than a year.
Both Ukraine and Russia have foreign volunteers fighting in their armies but this would be a rare example of a foreign state ordering its soldiers to fight in the war.
In 2022, there were reports that soldiers from Syria, a Russian ally, would be sent to Ukraine to fight for Russia, but there has been no evidence that this happened.
South Korea’s defence minister said his government considered Russia and North Korea to have essentially agreed to a military alliance pact.
“The issue of deploying regular troops is highly likely due to the mutual agreements that resemble a military alliance between Russia and North Korea,” he said.
North Korean artillery shells and missiles have become a vital source of weapons for Russia. Vladimir Putin travelled to North Korea in June for the first time since 2000 to sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” and to thank Kim personally for his support.
The chemistry between the two dictators was clear at their meeting. They laughed at each other’s jokes, chinked glasses of red wine as they toasted their future successes and drove around the grounds of a villa in Pyongyang together in a Russian luxury car that Putin had gifted to the dictator.
Well. We can the kind of man you are a when we see your friends
PitifulEar3303 on
oh well, they wanted to be axis, this is how you axis, in the dirt.
Cheeeeeseburger on
One less mouth to starve in NK. I’m sure this is a win to Russia and NK.
Zeub45 on
Europeans let’s go
Old_Fart52 on
Can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the NK ‘soldiers’ sent to fight in Ukraine as they’ll have had no choice in the matter at all. I remember seeing a documentary a few years back where Vice did a report on groups of NK workers who had been ‘supplied’ or effectively sold like a commodity to Russia to work at logging in the forests of Siberia. The NK government took all of their pay and only sent workers with families so they had leverage against them escaping. They were kept in encampments that were very isolated and basic to say the least. It was quite shocking to see human beings being treated iike this and I’m sure the NK military personnel will be working for Russia under very similar criteria
DerStuermischeHeinz on
Now tapeworms looking for a good home !
Stocky1978 on
Kill them all
bigfruitbasket on
You think Russians like to use cannon fodder? Send in the North Koreans, the dead cost nothing.
Ok-Advertising-8359 on
Oh no! Anyways.
Exciting_Homework_56 on
George W. Bush was a terrible president, but he did nail whole “Axis of Evil” bit. He got a lot of flak for that at the time.
12 Comments
***The Telegraph reports***:
North Korean soldiers have likely been killed fighting for the Kremlin on the front lines in Ukraine, South Korea has said.
Kim Yong-hyun, South Korea’s defence minister, said reports that six North Korean officers were killed last week in a missile strike near Donetsk were “highly likely”.
He said: “We assess that the occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely.”
Speculation that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, would send his soldiers to fight in Ukraine for Russia has been rife but this would be the first known evidence of them being stationed on or near the front line.
Analysts said the six officers may have been helping to manage supplies of North Korea’s missiles and artillery shells that Kim has been sending to the Kremlin for more than a year.
Both Ukraine and Russia have foreign volunteers fighting in their armies but this would be a rare example of a foreign state ordering its soldiers to fight in the war.
In 2022, there were reports that soldiers from Syria, a Russian ally, would be sent to Ukraine to fight for Russia, but there has been no evidence that this happened.
South Korea’s defence minister said his government considered Russia and North Korea to have essentially agreed to a military alliance pact.
“The issue of deploying regular troops is highly likely due to the mutual agreements that resemble a military alliance between Russia and North Korea,” he said.
North Korean artillery shells and missiles have become a vital source of weapons for Russia. Vladimir Putin travelled to North Korea in June for the first time since 2000 to sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” and to thank Kim personally for his support.
The chemistry between the two dictators was clear at their meeting. They laughed at each other’s jokes, chinked glasses of red wine as they toasted their future successes and drove around the grounds of a villa in Pyongyang together in a Russian luxury car that Putin had gifted to the dictator.
**Full story:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/09/north-korean-troops-fighting-for-putin-killed-in-ukraine/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/09/north-korean-troops-fighting-for-putin-killed-in-ukraine/)
Time to send some pmc into ukraine.
Well. We can the kind of man you are a when we see your friends
oh well, they wanted to be axis, this is how you axis, in the dirt.
One less mouth to starve in NK. I’m sure this is a win to Russia and NK.
Europeans let’s go
Can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the NK ‘soldiers’ sent to fight in Ukraine as they’ll have had no choice in the matter at all. I remember seeing a documentary a few years back where Vice did a report on groups of NK workers who had been ‘supplied’ or effectively sold like a commodity to Russia to work at logging in the forests of Siberia. The NK government took all of their pay and only sent workers with families so they had leverage against them escaping. They were kept in encampments that were very isolated and basic to say the least. It was quite shocking to see human beings being treated iike this and I’m sure the NK military personnel will be working for Russia under very similar criteria
Now tapeworms looking for a good home !
Kill them all
You think Russians like to use cannon fodder? Send in the North Koreans, the dead cost nothing.
Oh no! Anyways.
George W. Bush was a terrible president, but he did nail whole “Axis of Evil” bit. He got a lot of flak for that at the time.