North Korea is reportedly in talks to send 100,000 soldiers to fight in Ukraine:

[tblue37]

North Korea is reportedly in talks to send 100,000 soldiers to fight in Ukraine in exchange for food and energy resources.

Link to tweet

[cilla4progress]

1. Fuckers

Eom

[Bayard]

2. 100,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to bolster Putin's forces fighting Ukraine

An army of soldiers from one of the world’s most authoritarian nations could be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting in Ukraine.

Up to 100,000 North Korean soldiers could be sent to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces fighting Ukraine, according to Russian reports.

A leading defence expert in Moscow, reserve colonel Igor Korotchenko, told state TV: “We shouldn’t be shy in accepting the hand extended to us by Kim Jong-un.”

North Korea has made it clear through “diplomatic channels” that as well as providing builders to repair war damage, it is ready to supply a vast fighting force, reported Regnum news agency.

They would be deployed to the forces of the separatist pro-Putin Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] and Luhansk People’s Republic [LPR], both of which Kim has recently recognised as independent countries.

“The country is ready to transfer up to 100,000 of its soldiers to Donbas,” said the report by the pro-Kremlin news agency.

“Pyongyang will be able to transfer its tactical units to Donbas.”

In return, grain and energy would be supplied to Kim’s stricken economy.

https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/100000-north-korean-soldiers-could-be-sent-to-bolster-putins-forces-fighting-ukraine/news-story/1126782c8c5e6fe08a8ad2d9fa38dff0



Not good at all. Desperate people do desperate things. And with China mad as hell at us now, we could get sucked into this after all.

[brush]

34. If this happens Putin must think NATO will not consider...

this an intervention by outside forces and won't intervene itself. I think that would be another of Putin's bonehead decisions.

IMO it would be just a matter of time before other nations enter that war.

[Trueblue1968]

67. shoot and bomb them on sight

[tinrobot]

90. Both Russia and North Korea tend to exaggerate. It'll probably be more like 10,000.

Since it's being reported by Russian state TV, you have to take this with a big grain of salt. I doubt the real numbers will be anywhere near what they're stating.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em off of the Farm (After They've Seen the Wheat?)"

North Korean troops are to be sent some place where crops are grown?

[murielm99]

5. Just watch them defect.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. DPRK has no problem executing families for listening to the radio or watching a VCR movie.

.

I'm sure they will select troops who have families, and they will get killed if there's a defection.

.

[EndlessWire]

56. You mean if they die?

They're not going to get interviewed on TV. Some of them will defect no matter what. Lil Kim will just get additional sanctions on his country.

[TheBlackAdder]

74. I mean, I wouldn't want to be any of those 100K families. If their kids defect or go missing. . .

[PortTack]

4. Pootie can send oil...they don't have enough food to feed themselves let alone another country

That would indeed be bad, but russia isn’t going to be able to arm them or give them heavy military hardware to use, they don’t have enough for the current soldiers deployed. Are they going to bring their own tanks, howitzers, planes…how?

[TheBlackAdder]

21. Perhaps this is why Russia was stealing Ukraine's grain shipments, to fund North Korea.

[Bucky]

33. Yes, this is mostly about resources. Grain, fertilizer, & Black Sea gas reserves

I mean, it's also about shortening Russia's border defense lines too.

It's strategic madness. That's what you get when one guy holds all the power for too long. You should thank the universe every morning that you don't live in Asia

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. How? Vladivostok, terminus of the Trans Siberian Railway, is about 60 miles from the N Korean border

Easy to transport anything that can fit on a railcar.

[PortTack]

26. It would take months and months to transfer that amount of men and material and get it to the front

Lines. Ukraine has already severely weakened the russian military machine, they are currently unable to mount any successful offenses. By the time the NK arrive, it may be too late for them

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. I don't think Russia will have been ejected from Ukraine in only a few months

and I don't think any military analyst thinks that either. Being unable to mount new offences does not mean "unable to defend, too". There's a lot of territory for Ukraine to retake, and they'll have to do it while holding the line in some places. The Russians wouldn't need to wait for all North Korean men and equipment to arrive before using some of them, either.

I think the problem with this might be more that Kim needs his army to maintain control over his country. And it's not actually an army experienced in fighting.

[BootinUp]

52. I agree. Nt

[former9thward]

32. Where are you getting your information?

Russia is a huge food exporter with the EU their #1 customer. They have no problem feeding their own people and many other countries as well.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1238548/russia-leading-food-export-partner-countries/

[Novara]

6. WW III because he can't stand to lose?

Sounds fucking familiar. If you don't win, burn it all down.

[Bluethroughu]

15. This exactly.

[blue-wave]

91. Yup. My thought too.

Pooty the baby is sitting around in his diaper crying that he's not getting his way.

[Takket]

8. Uh no.

I’m not sure what to do but the US should not stand for that. NK and Russia share a border so there is no way to stop the troops without landing in NK or Russia.

But if this is allowed to happen it will be complete genocide in Ukraine.

[PortTack]

18. So are they going to transfer heavy equipment via rail across russia?

The Ukrainian forces were hamstrung until the heavy equipment from the west arrived. 100,000 soldiers without military heavy equipment? Not in this war.


NATO and western allies have indicated they have their lines that will not be crossed too, they just don’t bluster and threaten. the bottom line remains unmoved, especially for the EU- that is Poopin must be stopped or they will have another continent wide European war. Their very way of life will be threatened if Ukraine falls.

[nuxvomica]

9. An opportunity to escape for them

If NK sends 100K, I wonder how many will end up at the destination.

[ColinC]

16. How many will defect?

[NCjack]

11. Putin is short on troops. Good opportunity for China and Japan to retake the

land stolen from them by Russia.

[Bucky]

30. I'm pretty sure Japan is not going to be invading Sakhalin Island

And China is using Russia both for (1) cheap oil, which China needs lots of, & (2) a distracting the west from their aggression in the South China Sea.

So, no, no one's taking land from Russia this week

[Crunchy Frog]

46. They'll take over Russian territory by buying it up, moving their people in,

and eventually holding referendums to unite with China.

[Bucky]

54. Where are you getting this from?

Do you have any reason to believe the Russians are inclined to be giving up territory in the east?

Read more and opine less

[Crunchy Frog]

55. If most of the people living there are Chinese? I was being partially tongue in cheek, but I will

also opine all I want. If you find my opining offensive, you are free to put me on ignore.

[Bucky]

77. Don't worry, it's not offensive.

It's random and irrelevant, but please feel free to opine away, my friend.

[Crunchy Frog]

45. His problem is that he doesn't want to conscript regular Russians.

He's been relying on ethnic minorities, Russian dregs from the impoverished provinces, and forcibly conscripted men from the separatist "republics". He evidently doesn't think he can politically survive true mass consumption and lots of body bags coming into Moscow and St Petersburg. He wants to fight a major war using only garbage people who no one important will miss.

[Mr.Bill]

71. Also a good time for

South Korea and the US to ratchet-up some military exercises on and around the Korean peninsula. You know, stuff that was already scheduled.

[NCjack]

85. Yes, make Putin send troops and war machines to the East.

[Bluethroughu]

12. They will run away, forget about fighting.

[ripcord]

57. I doubt they will

They will send soldiers with families left behind so they have hostages.

[Bluethroughu]

87. You are most likely right, but they will still run.

We are talking about people banished from reality, when they see it, their natural instincts will take over and they will try to run away from danger.

[stevil]

13. LOL!

The propaganda wars of today outshine those of yesteryear....

[ColinC]

14. DOA

[tblue37]

17. I think of those cardboard "Will work for food" signs.

[Alhena]

19. NK has never allowed its people to see the outside world like that

I seriously doubt they would allow 100k of their troops to go to an uncontrolled environment and report back to the people at home that even a poor country like Ukraine is vastly better than their own.

[thucythucy]

23. We posted basically the same thought at the same time

except you are so much more succinct.

My post #20 is a long-winded agreement with yours.

[Bluethroughu]

88. I agree 100% survival mode will kick in and they'll run.

It will only destabilize NK more. It would not be in their best interest to get involved.

[thucythucy]

20. This has the potential to be an absolute disaster for the North Korean regime.

Allowing a hundred thousand soldiers access to the outside world could totally destabilize North Korea,

Even in a war, many of these soldiers will be exposed to standards of living they probably can't even imagine. This happened to a certain extent to Soviet troops during WWII once they crossed the border first into Poland and then into Germany. People who had never before seen a flush toilet and indoor plumbing, or houses wired for electricity, or networks of paved road, were simply astounded at the western standard of living. The result then was in large part to make Soviet soldiers even more pissed at Germans--"These people are so unbelievably well off, why did they have to invade us?" Even so, returning POWs were usually sent straight to the Gulag, since what they saw even as prisoners was enough to make the regime doubt their continued loyalty to Stalin.

For North Koreans there might be a similar reaction, compounded by the fact that they're not defending their homeland or retaliating for an attack on their native country, but instead are basically being used as mercenaries. Add to this there is an option available to North Koreans unavailable to Soviets in 1945: they can defect and end up in South Korea. A nation where they speak the language, know the culture--to an extent--and may even have family.

"We were told we were the best country on earth. We were told we were the envy of the world. We were told Westerners were savage animals. All of it was a lie?"

Even being stationed in Russia, which has a standard of living below that of Ukraine, there might be such a reaction. Add to all this access to the outside internet, even to broadcast TV, and the culture shock is going to be intense.

Some of these soldiers will inevitably defect. Others will return home in a state of intense dissatisfaction and cognitive dissonance. Even if most of the soldiers hang onto their imposed world view, enough of them will be affected to be a truly destabilizing factor.

The North Korean regime is playing with fire in more ways than one. Hopefully they will take all this into consideration before they make decisions that can't be undone.

[former9thward]

36. Wfhat?

Where are you getting your info? Russia's standard of living is three times that of Ukraine. Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe. Russia GNP per capita is $10,127. Ukraine's is $3727.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/poorest-countries-in-europe

[BeyondGeography]

39. Factor out Moscow and St. Petersburg

Then what do you have? Poor Russians are fighting and the rich kids are staying home. All of the troops are from the hinterlands where people are indeed poorer than the average Ukrainian. Why do you think they steal everything that isn’t nailed down?

[former9thward]

43. So you have no evidence?

Just that they "steal everything". Factor out Kyiv and Odessa and the rest of Ukraine is dirt poor. I provided a link for my opinions. Maybe you can do the same.

[BeyondGeography]

47. You posted an irrelevant number

I salute you.

This is like every other war; poor kids are the ones fighting and dying.

https://amp.france24.com/en/live-news/20220517-young-poor-and-from-minorities-the-russian-troops-killed-in-ukraine

[thucythucy]

44. Having been to both Moscow and St. Petersburg

I'd prefer St. P. to Moscow.

But I wouldn't want to live in either as long as Putin is in power.

[thucythucy]

42. A one to one comparison is always difficult.

Per capital GNP being one of the most misleading ways to judge standard of living.

Russia has an economy based primarily on energy exports, control of which, and the benefits of which accrue to a very small percentage of the population.

Other measures are more ambiguous.

https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/ukraine/russia

So mortality during infancy is higher in Ukraine, but life expectancy in Russia is lower. And though wages are higher in Russia, the percentage of the population living in poverty is also higher.

The Russian Federation is more than just European Russia. Standards of living for various minority groups: Uzbeks, Kazaks, Tartars etc. are also lower, on average, than for European Russians.

I admit though it's a debatable point, especially since official figures for both nations--but especially Russia--must be taken with many grains of salt.

[PSPS]

48. More than 80% of russia's GDP is skimmed off to putin and the oligarchs.

[former9thward]

49. Why not say 90 or 95 or 99%?

It just a figure you are throwing out there with no evidence.

[PSPS]

53. Please get a clue

From: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/opinion/russia-ukraine-sanctions-offshore-accounts.html

The sums involved are mind-boggling. Novokmet et al. estimate that in 2015 the hidden foreign wealth of rich Russians amounted to around 85 percent of Russia’s G.D.P. To give you some perspective, this is as if a U.S. president’s cronies had managed to hide $20 trillion in overseas accounts. Another paper co-written by Zucman found that in Russia, “the vast majority of wealth at the top is held offshore.” As far as I can tell, the overseas exposure of Russia’s elite has no precedent in history — and it creates a huge vulnerability that the West can exploit.

[PortTack]

62. Exactly...the russian pilfering is one of the main reasons there in such a mess in Ukraine

The supposed once thought 2nd most powerful military in the world is a worn out paper tiger. Yes, they have thousands of tanks, ones that sat in open fields since the 70s. Their howitzers have had so little maintenance that the barrels are melting or exploding on site with the rocket inside. The orcs are using rifles from the 40s. The initial fighting force had no food, no ammo. They were cannon fodder..and still are because russia hasn’t invested anything in their force.

[former9thward]

63. Get a clue yourself.

The article you linked is almost six months old and is paywalled so I have no idea what it says.

It has been almost 6 months since Russia invaded Ukraine. It has been about 8 YEARS since Russia invaded the Crimean section of Ukraine. Sanctions both times. Is it really that hard to find 85% of Russia's GNP with all the resources the U.S. has? How come that has not been seized?

[PSPS]

80. "How come that has not been seized?"

That's the real question here instead of parroting a pro-kremlin argument.

Our sanctions are full of exemptions, presumably to protect the highest oligarchs & kleptocrats from their effect. The holes aren't as big as those in the UK, but they're still way too big. I can agree with you on that. But you can't equate russia's GDP figures with that of any other country because they're known not to reflect the living standard of its citizens. Very little of russia's GDP sees its way to the citizens. Almost all of it lines the pockets of putin and his buddies.

[muriel_volestrangler]

81. There's a difference between wealth, and GDP, which is a 'per year' figure

This is like saying a household has a $100,000/year income, and one member has $85,000 in a secret bank account. That doesn't mean that 85% of the income is siphoned off each year.

[SheltieLover]

25. Hopefully, they will all defect & fight against ruskies.

[Bucky]

27. Those are not motivated troops. They will be slaughtered.

Although I guess the survivors will have combat experience. This serves Kim's interest two different ways. Troops with combat experience and fewer mouths to feed

[OnDoutside]

28. Well said.

[Turbineguy]

31. That would be bad.

Unless it turns out that their only training has been goose-stepping in parades

A re-run of Napoleon's "Sans Culottes"?

A little music to go with that?

[tblue37]

60. Goose stepping troops always look like the Rockettes.

[EX500rider]

61. lol, those rifles at 0:25 appear to be Mosin Nagants Model 1891/30 designed in 1890.

[Turbineguy]

73. Hmmm....

They'll fit right in with the Russians then.

[EX500rider]

82. Yeah all their stuff is copies of Chinese copies of Russian stuff basically

[Torchlight]

35. Putin is showing his nation has a really bad hand in play this round

Moscow's attempt at military reform has failed to shape a modern force structure as the endemic, massive corruption (CATO has suggested that a fifth of the defense budget is defrauded every year) had hampered Putin's attempted modernization of the military. Russian command failed to ensure air superiority, came up short on command and control, and has been suffering considerable attrition of senior officers, including generals and admirals killed in Ukrainian strikes.

Two months ago, Russian military command sought to compensate for battlefield losses by bringing tanks out of storage, but discovered that in many cases vital hi-tech equipment like gyros and target finders had been stripped. Entire engine blocks had been removed. I also think it revealing that Russia’s largest maker of tanks has ceased operations due to a lack of components.

As the war drags on, the Kremlin is forced to withdraw whatever troops can be “harvested” from other deployments, other actors are likely to be emboldened. Azerbaijan has already resumed its own offensive. Georgia is currently eyeing the recapture of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Moldova could decide to tackle the breakaway Transnistria. And after the humiliation in Ukraine of the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, Russia might even be drawn into a third Chechen war.

[BeyondGeography]

37. North Koreans...Whatever happened to Russkiy Mir?

This noble reclamation of Russia’s natural cultural borders brought to you by…Kim Jong-un!

[Aristus]

38. They finally found a way they can justify all those medals for officers who haven't fought a war in

sixty years...

[BootinUp]

64. Wtf!

[David__77]

70. It is a spoof photo.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/north-korean-medals-photo/

[lindysalsagal]

40. In related news, North korea has lost 100,000 male citizens while Ukraine has had to hire

interpreters from south Korea to assist with 100,000 male Korean immigrants.

[EndlessWire]

59. LOL! n/t

[lpbk2713]

68. And to monitor their radio and telecommunications traffic.

BOOM!

[Crunchy Frog]

41. It looks like it may be time for us to finally deal with NK.

And let's not go wetting the bed over their handful of "nukes" either. It would be insanity to allow that shithole to hold the rest of the world hostage.

[roamer65]

50. ...and half of them will instantly defect.

[purr-rat beauty]

51. I think they mean...

100,000 defectors

[Stinky The Clown]

58. Reposting: Bullies and unpopular positions

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216986773

Ukraine is being harmed in so many horrible ways by a bully in the person of one Vladimir Putin. That harm is affecting the entire planet in the form of millions of displaced persons and the direct burden of accepting them in places not prepared for the migration. It also takes the form of inflation, food shortages and starvation in the Third World, and global energy shortages. The bullying is far beyond Ukraine's borders and impacts millions, perhaps billions of people having NOTHING to do with Russia or Ukraine.

Bullies get differential treatment from their victims. Putin continues in office, seemingly immune to threats to his power.

Among the latest insults to the Body Humanity is the war crime of killing prisoners of war. The UN is investigating. That investigation will go nowhere because Russia and China sit on the Security Council with the absolute right to veto whatever they wish, no matter how self-serving.

I recognize there is a threat of thermonuclear obliteration in suggesting this, but it is time to act. it is time for the world to end its tolerance of bullies. It is time to stop the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Allow Ukraine into NATO and if not that, then go it alone.

Issue the ultimatum to Putin.

If ignored, go in and end it. This is a GLOBAL threat.

I know this is unpopular. I know many (most?) of you who read this will find it unthinkable. So be it.

I think standing up to any bully is the right thing to do, even if never done. Standing up to a civilization-threatening global bully is necessary.






WE ARE BEING TESTED

Should this prove accurate and Putin tries it, such action cannot be allowed.

Maybe the answer is to assassinate the bully(ies)

[PortTack]

65. You are correct bullies need to be dealt with. I think the west is slowly turning up the heat

With more heavy artillery and weapons and now talk of training Ukrainian pilots to fly our F15s. It must be a terrible fine line to walk especially for those in the EU..how much, when.

Listening to Jen Stoltenberg NATO’s Secretary General I don’t believe the EU and NATO will let Ukraine fall. Their very way of existence will be threatened just as Ukraine’s is now.

[Crunchy Frog]

78. I agree with you 100%. I don't buy Putin's threats to launch a nuclear war.

The risk of giving in to nuclear blackmail is incalculably higher IMO.

[arthritisR_US]

66. NATO countries have not sent in troops because

they want to avoid a world war. North Korea doing this would escalate this war into a world war. This proposition is extremely dangerous.

[Lettuce Be]

69. You'd think they'd immediately run off

Freedom!

[Crunchy Frog]

79. I doubt that they can even conceptualize freedom,

and it's not like they're not going to be on an extremely tight leash.

Ukraine needs to be given the tools to obliterate the fuck out of them, preferably before they enter Ukrainian territory. We need to get over this idiotic policy of forbidding them from striking military targets inside russian territory.

[2naSalit]

72. Be a shame if...

they never got there.

[Bettie]

75. I don't see it happening.

NK runs on xenophobia, isolation, and repression (suppression?). If they get even a glimpse of the world, it will change some of the troops they would send in a way that is not necessarily friendly to the current government.

But, Vlad must be desperate.

[Kaleva]

76. I think a large number will immediately surrender

Life in a UKR POW camp would be bliss compared to living in NK

[MarineCombatEngineer]

86. They will get slaughtered,

they have no combat experience and will be going toe to toe with combat experienced Ukr. forces, plus they're equipment is far inferior to the western systems and munitions flooding into Ukraine.

[DFW]

89. Russia's leader can't find enough Russians to fight for Russia

Sounds like Russia is in dire need of a new leader.

Should enough highly-placed Russians come to the same conclusion, they’ll get one, too.