About 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia on the border with Ukraine, the US secretary of state has said, warning that Moscow is preparing to deploy those troops into combat “in the coming days”.
Antony Blinken said the US believed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, deploying them first to training bases in the far east before sending the vast majority to the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
Blinken told a press conference that the North Korean troops had received Russian training in “artillery, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations”.
Right, people scoff at North Korean presence, but I doubt the North Korean soldiera would be used in human wave tactic as the Russians do. North Korea is still an independent sovereign entity, and the last thing they want is to let their troops be used by Russians in a shitty way. It obvious that North Korea will want to gain combat experience, the same way that South Korea sent troops to Vietnam fifty years before.
… without proper compensation. I’m just guessing here, when I suspect that Russia has more USD in stock than the DPRK. But what I’m pretty certain of is, that the Kims would let you do anything to their people for the right amount of cash.
IDK what agreement Putin and Kim has, but if it in any way considers DPRK soldiers as something resembling living creatures, for other than pumping up compensation, then I’d be very surprised.
OK, sure, the ones that survive will have combat experience. But that’s not why they’re there.
Of course there is more tit for tat deal, but North Korea will not send troops to combat if they think they will not gain anything from it militarily.