North Korean soldiers in Ukraine: ‘Clear message from Putin’

Several thousand North Korean soldiers will fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.



The exact number of soldiers from North Korea that will be deployed is still unclear: it is certainly 1,500 soldiers, earlier reports from various intelligence agencies spoke of 12,000 troops.

Sending North Korean troops to Ukraine follows a pact made by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in June: they promised then that they would help each other if one of them was attacked.

According to Belgian defence specialist Roger Housen, the arrival of these North Koreans will not immediately cause a tilt in the battle between Russians and Ukrainians. He sees several reasons for this: the number of North Korean soldiers is too small, they are not equipped with high-tech weapons and are also not fluent in Russian, making it difficult to integrate them into the Russian force.

According to the defence specialist, the input from North Korea is not so much of military as of geopolitical importance: ‘It shows that more and more countries are resisting what Putin calls the treacherous West,’ he told Belgian media. ‘That is the message he wants to send to other countries in Asia and Africa in the hope of expanding the alliance around Russia.’

(PP/Source: Nieuwsblad/Illustration picture: DPA picture alliance / YONHAPNEWS AGENCY | Yonhap)