Summary
Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) reports that North Korean troops supporting Russia in the Kursk region are facing heavy casualties, logistical issues, and water shortages due to Ukrainian strikes.
Ukraine estimates 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded out of the 10,000-12,000 deployed by Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, Russia continues its drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, with recent attacks targeting power infrastructure and civilian areas.
President Putin threatened further use of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile, while Ukraine retaliates with strategic strikes on Russian military infrastructure.
Do anyone else wonder why Kim was open to being embarrassed this way? Hardly helps his fiction of North Korea being amazing.
I can guess a few reasons. First is he’s getting something out of it. He’s probably getting technology and weapons, but also probably money and potentially officers are getting experience in a real modern war.
Also, it’s fewer mouths to feed in NK if they’re dead. That alone probably makes it nearly neutral. It’s not like those back home are going to be hearing about how these soldiers are just being thrown away to die.
Because nobody back home will ever find out what happened to the dead soldiers.
SK could coordinate with Ukraine collate videos of dead NK people, or NK people being killed without mercy through drones. Then blast it through the DMZ border. Or drop pamphlets of pictures of dead NK soldiers through planes.
They already do. There’s an ongoing effort to smuggle outside news and media into North Korea. But you can’t just “blast it through the DMZ”. You have to get the stuff into formats they can play with appropriate subbing or dubbing where needed, and then sneak it across in USB thumb drives that are then quietly distributed by rebels in the north. It’s a difficult and dangerous process.
Because it’s valuable to send troops to a modern conflict zone, so in the end you have veterans who can train the next batch of soldiers in drone warfare. I think South Korea is worried about this
One possibility is that it isn’t a grand war campaign for him, but a death sentence he is bestowing on the unlucky or unfavored. It’s not supposed to be a success - it’s supposed to be a slaughter.
Ah true, that’s a good point
It’s speculation, but think about what Putin can offer Kim. Money, technological assistance, maybe even nuclear secrets