Category: North Korea

Here is the latest on the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia:

This image, captured from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s X account on Jan. 12, 2025, shows a passport he said one of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces was possessing. (Yonhap)

North Korean troops deployed to support Russia’s war against Ukraine appear to have been absent from combat in the front-line Kursk region since mid-January, the spy agency said Tuesday. 

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) disclosed the intelligence, confirming a recent report from The New York Times that North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops in battle against Ukraine have been pulled from the front lines in mid-January due to heavy casualties, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials.

“Since mid-January, there have been no signs showing North Korean troops deployed to the Russian Kursk region engaging in battle,” the NIS said. 

The spy agency echoed the news report, saying that heavy casualties appear to be one reason for the absence of North Korean troops, adding that efforts are under way to determine the exact reason.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If these Soldiers even wanted to return to North Korea, would the Kim regime even allow them? Officially North Korea has never confirmed they are at war with Ukraine. Accepting these Soldiers back would confirm they are in fact fighting against Ukraine:

The Ukrainian government is open to discussions with South Korea regarding the potential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to the South, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko.

While Kyiv has yet to begin formal negotiations with Seoul, Ponomarenko said Ukraine is willing to cooperate on transferring the soldiers if they refuse to return to their home country.

“Given the threat to the life and freedom of North Korean servicemen in the event of their repatriation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and if they refuse to go back, we are open for a dialogue with international partners, in particular the Republic of Korea, regarding the possibilities of their transfer to third countries,” Ponomarenko said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times, referring the two Koreas by their official names.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It was only a matter of time before someone in the Trump administration said something that the Kim regime could latch on to, to justify future provocations:

North Korea on Monday condemned U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for calling Pyongyang a “rogue state” and vowed powerful counteraction in its first official criticism against the Trump administration.

A spokesperson at North Korea’s foreign ministry issued the statement after Rubio said the United States has rogue states to deal with, such as Iran and North Korea, during his recent interview with U.S. journalist Megyn Kelly.

North Korea condemned Rubio’s remarks for tarnishing the image of a sovereign state, calling them a “grave political provocation,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.

“It is necessary to mention how absurd and illogical it is that the most depraved state in the world brands another country a rogue state,” the spokesperson said, stressing that Rubio’s remarks reaffirmed the U.S. hostile policy toward the North remains unchanged.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Just like the previous administration the Trump administration is negotiating from a starting point of fantasy if they think the Kim regime will ever negotiate away their nuclear weapons program:

U.S. President Donald Trump will pursue the “complete denuclearization of North Korea,” a White House official said Tuesday, amid questions over whether Trump’s recent reference to the North as a “nuclear power” signaled any policy shift.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes made the remarks shortly after the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute in an apparent move to highlight its military capability.

“President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term,” Hughes said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Trump has already identified something that many people do not realize about Kim Jong-un, he is not crazy, he is very smart:

As US President Donald Trump has hinted at attempting a fresh summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea is likely to confront more complicated diplomatic developments concerning US relations with North Korea.

When asked during a Fox News interview that aired Thursday, Trump said he would reach out to Kim again in his second term. “He liked me and I got along with him,” Trump said. “He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy.”

Trump’s comment marked the first time he explicitly expressed his willingness to resume talks with Kim since he took office Monday.

Trump’s new overture for bromance diplomacy came at a time when the US is expected to try to resolve the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine is already complicated because North Korea has sent its troops to Russia to help fight Ukraine, according to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Kim regime may be preparing more Soldiers for the meat grinder in Russia’s war agaisnt Ukraine:

North Korea may be accelerating plans to send more troops to replace frontline casualties incurred fighting Ukraine on behalf of Russia. Pyongyang plans to send Moscow an unspecified number of troops to replace those killed, wounded or imprisoned, according to a Friday report from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The North Korean reinforcements are expected to arrive within two months, according to a New York Times report published Wednesday that cited an unnamed U.S. defense official.

Roughly 12,000 North Koreans may have deployed to Russia as early as October to fight in the nearly 2-year conflict, U.S. and Ukrainian authorities have said. Of those, around 3,000 were killed or wounded in fighting in Russia’s western front, South Korean lawmakers Lee Seong-kweun and Park Sun-won, citing a closed-door National Intelligence Service briefing, told reporters earlier this month.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

On the North Korean provocation scale, testing a cruise missile is pretty low:

North Korea on Sunday said it tested sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles, the previous day, in its first provocation since US President Donald Trump officially began his second term.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Missile Administration test-fired the missiles on Saturday, which flew 1,500 kilometers over their flight trajectories for 7,507 to 7,511 seconds before precisely hitting their targets, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK is North Korea’s official name.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This really is not surprising that the rank and file North Korean Soldiers did not know they were being sent to fight against Ukraine:

One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine this month has claimed that he arrived in Russia without knowing whom he would be fighting, according to another video of his interrogation released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy disclosed that his forces had captured the North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western front-line region of Kursk, sharing videos of their interrogation on the social media platform X.

In the latest video posted on Monday (local time), one of the captured soldiers said he arrived in Russia aboard a ship with around 100 others before being transported inland by rail with them.

“Even after coming here, I didn’t know that I would be fighting the Ukrainian people,” the man said in the video in Korean. The video could not be independently verified.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Kim Jong-un decided to have an early fireworks show for the upcoming U.S. Presidential innauguration. It will be interesting to see if Kim decides to fire something next week as well:

North Korea fired several suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Tuesday morning in its second day of testing so far this year, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were launched around 9:30 a.m. from Chagang province, roughly 140 miles north of Pyongyang, and flew approximately 155 miles before splashing into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, the Joint Chiefs said in a text message to news agencies. South Korea and the United States had been monitoring the North’s preparations for Tuesday’s launch and “immediately” began tracking the missiles, according to the Joint Chiefs.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.