In the last 24 hours, North Korea celebrated its women's U-17 soccer team winning the World Cup after defeating Spain in the final on penalties, launched a barrage of ballistic missiles, deployed its first troops to fight against the Ukrainian army, sent its Foreign Minister to Moscow to pay homage to Vladimir Putin, and its representative at the UN stated that the country will accelerate the development of nuclear weapons.
Let's start with the most recent events. This Tuesday morning, on the same day as the elections in the United States, Pyongyang launched several ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast. This is the regime's response to the joint military exercises being conducted in the region by warships and drones from the armies of the US, Japan, and South Korea.
War games around the Korean Peninsula are quite common. What is new is that North Korea has sent troops to Russia who are reportedly already engaged in combat. This was claimed on Monday by the Ukrainian government, stating that its forces had fired for the first time at North Korean soldiers deployed in the border region of Kursk, Russia. Pyongyang had not directly participated in a conflict since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The intelligence services of Washington, Seoul, and Kiev estimate that the North Korean regime has sent between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers - from its elite brigades, although they are said to be young soldiers trained in the mountains and lacking combat experience - to support Russia in its war against Ukraine.
"The number of North Korean troops in the Kursk region has increased by about 2,000. We believe that the total number of DPRK forces - an abbreviation for the official name of North Korea - in Russia could be closer to 12,000," said Pentagon spokesperson General Pat Ryder a few hours ago. "We see an increase in the number of North Koreans. Unfortunately, we do not see an increase in the response from our partners," added Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in another statement.
While North Korean soldiers advance in Kursk, North Korea's Foreign Minister, Choe Son-hui, has met with Putin in Moscow, where she reportedly promised, as North Korean media report, that her country will support Russia until it achieves victory in Ukraine. This statement was already made three days ago by Choe in another meeting with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
All this strong military support from Pyongyang to Moscow is being closely evaluated in Seoul, where the EU's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, visited on Monday and signed a joint declaration with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, labeling North Korea's deployment in Russia as a "flagrant" violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and expressing concern that Putin may compensate Kim Jong-un by providing technology for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
"One of the reasons Russia is resorting to North Korean troops is that it is desperate. Putin has been throwing more and more Russians into a meat grinder of his own making in Ukraine. Now he is turning to North Korean troops, which is a clear sign of his weakness," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken a few days ago.
Blinken also explained that the North Korean troops stationed at Russian military bases had received training in artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing.