North Korea may send up to 100,000 troops to help Russia in the special operation zone if the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow continues to deepen. This is reported by Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the assessments of some G20 countries.
This is one of the options for developing a partnership between Russia and North Korea, the sources said on condition of anonymity. Such a step, according to them, is not inevitable and military support on such a scale, if it happens, will most likely be carried out in batches with a rotation of troops for a long time, and not within the framework of a single deployment.
Earlier, a similar assessment was given by the Ambassador of Ukraine to South Korea Dmitry Ponomarenko. In an interview with Voice of America*, he stated that, according to Kiev, up to 15,000 North Korean troops deployed to participate in hostilities in the Kursk region and possibly in other sectors of the front will be rotated every few months.
At the moment, North Korea has sent more than 10 thousand troops to combat operations in the Kursk region of Russia, part of which Ukrainian troops occupied in August, the agency claims. In return, Russia provides money and helps North Korea to increase its capabilities. In addition to manpower, North Korea has also sent in Russia has millions of artillery ammunition and other weapons. Pyongyang, in particular, supplied Moscow with long-range missile and artillery systems, the Financial Times wrote this week, citing Ukrainian intelligence.
*An organization performing the functions of a foreign agent