North Korea ‘to send more troops to Russia despite heavy casualties’
North Korea ‘to send more troops to Russia despite heavy casualties’
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South Korea also said that the North is preparing to test-fire a ballistic missile intended to reach the United States. North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia after its soldiers fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war suffered heavy casualties.
![[A North Korean Soldier fighting for Russia in Ukraine, according to a video shared by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/19/North-Korean-Soldier-fighting-for-Russia-in-Ukraine%2C-according-to-a-video-shared-by-President-Volody.png.jpg)
That’s according to South Koreans who also said that North Korea is continuing its preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile intended to reach the United States. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House may brighten Pyongyang's prospects for high-level diplomacy with the U.S., as he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term. Many experts say Kim likely thinks his evolving nuclear program and expanding military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin could give him a greater leverage than during his 2018-19 summits with Trump.
![[The cell where Ukraine has kept the two North Korean men captured in battlefield]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/09/Ukraine-POW.jpg)
North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of artillery and other conventional weapons to Russia, and last October it sent about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia as well, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligences. Seoul, Washington and others worry Russia could in return transfer to North Korea sophisticated weapons technologies that can enhance its nuclear program.
North Korean soldiers are considered to be highly disciplined and well-trained, but their lack of combat experiences and unfamiliarity with the largely flat plains that make up most battlefields in the Russian-Ukraine war have made them easy targets for drones and artillery strikes.
