Pyongyang Source Tells Kremlin-Affiliated Journalist KPA Ready To Deploy To Ukraine
Aleksander Sladkov, a long-time Russian military correspondent who sits on a Kremlin committee on mobilization for the war in Ukraine, claims that a source of his in Pyongyang has stated that the DPRK is willing to provide combat troops to assist Russia. His assertion follows recent remarks on the topic of prospective North Korean military assistance to Russia from a Kyiv-based military analyst. This is hardly the first time such commentary on uniformed KPA troops possibly fighting in Ukraine has emerged.
The numbers suggested by Sladkov are massive, nearly reaching the limit of the Korean People’s Army reserve forces; his description of 800,000 recent “volunteers” for war in Ukraine is a willful distortion of a recent state-orchestrated signature campaign oriented against the DPRK’s traditional foes of the US and South Korean militaries. Yet while journalistic analysis of North Korea is inherently fraught, the fact that such remarks are now coming from relatively close to the Kremlin at the very least takes such speculation to a new level.
Sladkov: The DPRK Is Ready to Send a Military Contingent to Help Russia[1]
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is ready to send troops to Ukraine to participate in the “special military operation” in support of Russia, says Russian military correspondent Alexander Sladkov in his vlog. This, he notes, will require an “OK” from China.
According to Sladkov, no less than 500,000 North Korean troops are ready to join up with Russian forces, and any decision on deploying to the battlefields in Ukraine could be made quickly.
Sladkov explained how North Korea has announced the recruitment of volunteers ready to join Russian operations in Ukraine, and that 800,000 expressed a willingness to do so on the first day alone.
In light of that, Kim Yo Jong – Kim Jong Un’s sister – stated that her country is “in the same boat” as Russia. Thus, aside from volunteers, Pyongyang is ready to send troops currently in active service to help Russia.
“I spoke with a friend of mine, the head of a Korean War veterans’ organization. He was here recently. I said ‘What do you guys have?’ He said ’50 thousand special forces are ready for deployment'” said Sladkov.
This is not the first time Pyongyang has signaled a willingness to help Russia with its military operations. Furthermore, Kim Yo Jong herself stated that a war could start between North Korea and the US.
As EADaily previously reported, military observer Alexey Sukonkin related the possibility that the DPRK could carry out nuclear strikes against the US. He believes that the first nuclear strikes would be against bases on islands including Guam and Hawaii.
Original article by EADaily. Translated by Anthony V. Rinna.
[1] Source: “Sladkov: The DPRK Is Ready to Send a Military Contingent to Help Russia [КНДР готова отправить на помощь России военный контингент — военкор Сладков]”, EADaily, March 28, 2023, https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2023/03/28/kndr-gotova-otpravit-na-pomoshch-rossii-voennyy-kontingent-voenkor-sladkov
