29 October 2024

Why North Korea’s Deployment of Troops to Russia Really Matters

Keith Johnson

The deployment of 10,000 or so North Korean troops to Russia marks a sharp escalation and internationalization of Europe’s biggest war in generations, with potential impacts on the battlefield, in Europe, and in Northeast Asia. It’s an embarrassing comedown for Moscow, bad news for Ukraine, and a very scary development for South Korea and the rest of the world.

Pyongyang has been underwriting Russia’s war in Ukraine for years by supplying literal boatloads of artillery shells. Injecting actual combat troops into the war at a critical time not only ratchets up the pressure on a war-weary and manpower-weak Ukraine, it also deepens the bonds and implications of the four-month-old Russia-North Korea mutual defense pact.

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