North Korea ready to send 1,00,000 volunteers to assist Russia amid war in Ukraine: Report

While Russia-Ukraine war is nearing six-month point, rth Korea has expressed willingness to send 1,00,000 soldiers for assistance of its ally, Moscow. Russia’s military expert Igor Korotchenko said in a live panel discussion on Russian Channel One, “re are reports that 1,00,000 rth Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in conflict and rth Korean builders are rey to work alongside ours [to repair war dam]”, according to New York Post. 

He furr referred to rth Korean troops as “resilient, undemanding and motivated”, ding that Kremlin “shouldn’t be shy in accepting hand extended to us by Kim Jong-un”, supreme leer of rth Korea. Korotchenko said, “If rth Korean volunteers with ir artillery systems, wealth of experience with counter-battery warfare and large calibre multi-launch rocket systems, me in rth Korea want to participate in conflict, well let’s give green light to ir volunteer impulse”.

He said that if “rth Korea expresses a desire to meet its international duty to fight against Ukrainian fascism, we should let m” and ded that both nations hold sovereign right to sign relevant agreements.

However, it still remains unclear how many troops is rth Korea rey to send as military assistance to Russian army, which media reports have stated is tackling low morale and sources. It should also be ted that rth Korea’s army is ranked as world’s fourth largest with around 1.3 million active personnel, according to New York-based Council for Foreign Relations.

rth Korea to send workers to rebuild Donbas: Report

Meanwhile, a separate South Korean report by Daily NK stated that Pyongyang is alrey preparing to dispatch its workers to pro-Russian separatist region in eastern Ukraine, Donbas to rebuild region as war continues unabated for over five months. According to report, secretive regime with only a few allies, rth Korea is planning to send se workers at an appropriate time. A rth Korean source revealed to outlet that situation on ground was alrey being monitored. 

rth Korea's assistance could be helpful, particularly considering that according to US Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl, Russia probably suffered 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months. He said, "I'll also say Russians are taking a tremendous number of casualties on or side of equation. You kw, precise figures, re's a lot of fog in war, but, you kw, I think it's safe to suggest that Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six month".

"w, that is a combination of killed in action and wounded in action, and that number might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that's kind of in ballpark, which is pretty remarkable considering that Russians have achieved ne of Vlimir Putin's objectives at beginning of war," he ded. 

Im: AP