North Korean Soldiers Fighting in Ukraine Could Spark World War III

Ji-Yeon Yuh

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The entry of North Koreans in the Ukraine war, if they participate in the fighting, could transform that conflict into a global war. For the United States and the two Koreas, it could become a second “hot stage” of the ongoing Korean War, a Cold War relic with age-defying staying power.

The United States and North Korea have been enemies since the official start of the Korean War in June 1950, with only the 1953 Armistice preventing a renewal of military battle. Without a peace agreement, both nations have been prepared to return to war at any time. North Korea is a garrison state and a deeply militarized society that requires ten years of military service from every male citizen.

The United States remains the most lethal military power in the world, and it retains control of the South Korean military at times of outright war. U.S. soldiers face North Korean soldiers every day across the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The United States also continuously holds joint training with allied nations, which included annual simulations of war against North Korea, staging realistic air and sea incursions right at its borders.

Over seventy years since the armistice, it has always been diplomacy and engagement that opened up North Korea and decreased the risk of renewed open warfare. For nearly twenty years after the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea ceased nuclear weapons testing and welcomed tourists, international aid workers, investors, students, educators, musicians, artists, scientists, and the randomly curious from all over the world.

Civilians, including ordinary Americans, traveled to North Korea, talked with North Koreans, and had their own unique experiences of the country. However, when the Framework fell apart in 2003 and the United States failed to deliver the promised light water nuclear energy technology, North Korea turned back to nuclear weapons development.

Last year, North Korea declared itself a nuclear power ready to use the weapons. It abandoned its reunification policy and named South Korea as an enemy state. Sidestepping even further away from the West, it signed a mutual defense agreement with Russia earlier this year.