Russia and North Korea Recognize the First Anniversary of North Korea’s Recapture of Russia’s Kursk Province
When you think about it, it is kind of embarrassing for Moscow to have relied on North Korea to recapture Russian territory. It would be like the U.S. relying on Canada to recapture part of Arizona if Mexico ever attacked the U.S.:
North Korea and Russia are dramatically expanding high-level exchanges, with three Russian ministers visiting the North at the same time, as they mark the first anniversary of the recapture of the Kursk region next week amid Moscow’s war with Ukraine, according to Pyongyang’s state media Thursday.
Sectoral working-level meetings to boost North Korea-Russia cooperation and exchanges were held at a hotel in the Wonsan-Kalma eastern seaside resort region the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The meetings brought together Russian Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, who serves as the Russian chair of the bilateral committee on trade and economic cooperation; North Korea’s External Economic Relations Minister Yun Jong-ho; Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko; North Korea’s Public Health Minister Kim Tu-won and others.
You can read more at the link.
“When you think about it, it is kind of embarrassing for Moscow to have relied on North Korea to recapture Russian territory. It would be like the U.S. relying on Canada to recapture part of Arizona if Mexico ever attacked the U.S.”
Not embarrassing at all.
North Korean troops engaging Ukrainian forces on Ukrainian territory would carry significant political and diplomatic consequences.
However, North Korean forces operating within Russian territory, gaining battlefield experience while tying down Ukrainian troops during a limited incursion, can be framed as a bilateral matter between Russia and North Korea.
Their presence allowed Russian forces to reallocate manpower and resources toward primary operations inside Ukraine.
In that sense, North Korean troops acted as a force multiplier for Russia, while the Ukrainian incursion functioned as a force divider by drawing Ukrainian personnel and assets away from more decisive fronts.
The problem now is that NK has serious combat experience while SK chases wolves.
Without a doubt the combat experience was valuable for North Korea, but Russia should be embarrassed that they had to rely on North Korean troops to defend their homeland against a country with a military and population much smaller than than Russia. Homeland defense of Russia should be the first priority of Russia, not North Korea.
“but Russia should be embarrassed that they had to rely on North Korean troops to defend their homeland”
Nobody sees it that way.
If Ukraine had forced a withdrawal of Russian troops to go back and defend the homeland, it would have been embarrassing.
Instead, Ukraine cut their defensive force of Ukraine and sacrificed men and equipment for a very minor and very temporary propaganda victory.
Russia was able achieve easier victories in Ukraine during this time while allowing their eager ally and supplier to build combat experience and refine their weapons with no political or diplomatic fallout.
This situation is not embarrassing. It was brilliant use of options and opportunity with no downside.
It could be claimed that Ukraine invading Russia was embarrassing, Ukraine certainly claimed that. But Russia gets invaded a few times per century and it always ends poorly for the invaders so they are likely over the embarrassment pretty quickly.
In fairness to Russia they are up against a military that has been lavishly funded and outfitted (regrettably) by the US and NATO allies.
If not for us spending hundreds of billions on them I believe the entirety of eastern Ukraine would have already been totally under Russia’s control. Apparently a good amount of eastern Ukrainians want precisely that outcome. Enough to start a civil war almost 15 years ago anyway.
My thoughts are that this whole thing was really none of our concern and that we didn’t have much to gain from interfering. I feel it was more about our politicians getting kick backs by sending vast resources to one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Didn’t they find out that Ukraine was investing heavily in FTX? And FTX was investing heavily in campaign donations…….and the CEOs hot girlfriend.
When you zoom out a little bit the dots are so close they almost connect themselves.