North Korea has reportedly offered to send Russia 100,000 “volunteers” to help the country continue its war against Ukraine, Russian state TV said.
While the alleged offer could not be confirmed from the Hermit Kingdom, Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko touted the news.
“There are reports that 100,000 North Korean volunteers are prepared to come and take part in the conflict,” Korotchenko said on Russian Channel One.
Korotchenko was notably interested in what he called the North Korean’s “wealth of experience with counter-battery warfare” — a telling remark given reports of Ukraine’s long-range artillery success since acquiring US-made HIMARS rocket systems in June.
“If North Korea expresses a desire to meet its international duty to fight against Ukrainian fascism, we should let them,” Korotchenko said.
Seemingly no consideration was given to what constitutes a “volunteer” force in an authoritarian state such as North Korea. (New York Post)
Last month, Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, praised the country's foreign policy independence.
“North Korea is one of the very few countries that can afford to pursue a completely independent foreign policy. No one – neither Russia with China, let alone the United States – can force North Koreans to do something or not to do something,” he said. "It may sound implausible in our ultra-pragmatic times, but Pyongyang in the international arena always acts according to its conscience, in the way it thinks would be right. [...] The North Koreans have not received anything from us, for example, for recognizing Crimea as Russian, they do not bill us after every vote in our favor at the UN or on any other international platform."
The report comes as some have predicted Russia’s war effort is nearly “out of steam.”
“Our assessment is that the Russians will increasingly find it difficult to supply manpower [and] materiel over the next few weeks,” MI6 Chief Richard Moore said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado recently.