SYMBOLIC?
What role the North Korean troops may play is unclear.
“The numbers make this more than a symbolic effort, but the troops will likely be in support roles and constitute less than 1 percent of Russia’s forces,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank said in a note.
“Russia is desperate for additional manpower, and this is one element of Russia’s effort to fill the ranks without a second mobilization,” it added, noting the presence could grow.
The troops are also likely to play a political role for Russia and North Korea, strengthening their hands in relations with China, which has an uneasy partnership with both countries, and sending a message to Washington and its allies, Western diplomats and analysts said.
“The closer Moscow’s ties to Pyongyang, the more leverage it expects over US allies as well as China,” Gilbert Rozman, of The Asan Forum, wrote for the US-based 38 North programme.
Moscow needed a partner hostile to the status quo, wary of China but unwilling to antagonize it, and helpful in meeting arms or perhaps labor needs, he said.
A few thousand North Korean troops will not change the course of the war so it may be a Russian attempt to underscore to the United States just how disruptive Moscow can be if it wants, said one diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Integrating North Korean troops into a very complex war machine is not easy. But using their presence to scare the United States and its allies in Asia is quite simple,” the diplomat said.
