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South Korean intelligence said on Friday October 18 that North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia with the aim of integrating its army and being deployed on the Ukrainian front. 4 questions to understand what could constitute a twist in the conflict.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) explained this Friday, October 18, that 12,000 North Korean soldiers would be sent to help Russia. What information do we have at this stage? What outcome could this have on the continuation of the conflict? We explain the consequences on the Ukrainian situation in 4 questions
What does South Korean intelligence say?
This information is taken very seriously in the south of the Korean peninsula. President Yoon Suk Yeol called an emergency security meeting on Friday (October 18). The country’s intelligence services mention 1,500 soldiers already in Russia, and a total of 12,000 who should fill the Russian ranks in the long term.
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The KoreaTimesa South Korean newspaper, reports, based on NIS statements, that these first 1,500 soldiers were transported between October 8 and 13 aboard four amphibious landing ships and three Russian escort ships. Intelligence also provided proof of this by publishing a satellite photograph of a Russian ship leaving the port of Najin (North Korea). If North Korean weapons were indeed on board, it is impossible for the moment to establish whether soldiers were there. “A second transport operation should take place shortly,” says the NIS.
Are North Korean soldiers already on the front lines?
While in Ukraine as in South Korea, the rumor had already been circulating for a while, the NIS provided confirmation of the presence of a North Korean soldier on the front. Intelligence used facial recognition technology on a photo taken in Ukraine and was able to identify a North Korean missile technician who previously appeared alongside Kim Jong-un.
Ukrainian media also reported that six North Korean soldiers were killed in early October during a Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian-occupied area near Donetsk.
What are North Korean troops doing in Russia?
Soldiers already on foreign soil are stationed in various locations in Russia’s Far East, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, as reported by KoreaTimes. Korean troops are currently believed to be integrated into Russian units. It appears that they are equipped with Russian uniforms and weapons. The objective would be to conceal their nationality from the enemy and, in this sense, false identities of Russian citizens would have been provided to them.
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Members of the North Korean army are currently receiving adaptation training. According to South Korean intelligence, once this training is completed, they should join the front and could be deployed partly in the Kursk region where Ukraine has occupied part of the territory since August 6.
For North Korea, this sending of troops would allow full-scale training even though its army has never been able to train on real war grounds. For Russian leaders, the objective is quite different. While the Russian army is suffering numerous losses and the mobilization of citizens is ever more complex, this addition of foreign troops would make it possible to continue to outnumber the enemy.
What does this mean for the rest of the conflict?
One thing is certain, collaboration between Russia and North Korea continues to strengthen. Already in June this year, the two countries signed “a strategic partnership agreement” providing for mutual defense in the event of aggression and cooperation on the military and diplomatic levels.
Then, the NIS assured on October 18 that North Korea had “provided Russia with the equivalent of more than 13,000 containers of artillery ammunition, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons” since August. And now she is supplying him with men from her own army.
Opinions differ on the meaning to be given to this “operation”. For British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, this proves that “Russia is weakening.” Conversely, Volodymyr Zelensky warns: “This is the first step towards a world war.” The Ukrainian president intends to take advantage of this “opportunity” to obtain authorization from his Western partners to use, including on Russian soil, the long-range weapons they provide him. A request that he has been making for a long time but which the West continues to refuse him for fear of the reprisals that such actions would entail.
