UKRAINE OUTRAGE
The United States has said that around 10,000 North Korean troops have made their way into Russia with a small number in the Kursk region on the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to South Korean media, denounced what he called inaction by his allies and said he was surprised by the “silence” of China.
“I think that the reaction to this is nothing; it has been zero,” Zelensky said.
The United States has warned North Korea over the deployment, with an envoy saying Wednesday that the troops will “return in body bags” if they cross into Ukraine.
South Korea has said it is reviewing whether to send weapons directly to Ukraine in response, an idea it has previously resisted due to longstanding domestic policy that prevents it from sending weaponry into active conflicts.
North Korea’s missile launch “seems to have been carried out to divert attention from international criticism of its troop deployment,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Seoul has warned that Russia may be providing new technology or expertise to Pyongyang in return for weapons and troops to help them fight Ukraine.
It is possible “Russia actually provided new technology for reentering the atmosphere,” said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.
