Seoul, South Korea – South Korea’s army said Friday that it suspects that North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after their soldiers who fought in the Ukraine War suffered numerous casualties.
The South Korean joint Staff also evaluated in a report distributed to the journalists that North Korea continues its preparations to test an intercontinental ballistic missile destined to reach the United States.
The return of President Donald Trump to the White House can improve Pyongyang’s perspectives to maintain a high level diplomacy with Washington, since he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong a three times during his first term. Many experts say that Most likely, Kim thinks that his evolution nuclear program and his growing military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin could give him greater influence than during his 2018-19 summits with Trump.
North Korea has been supplying a large amount of artillery and other conventional weapons to Russia, and last October also sent between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers to Russia, according to the intelligence services of the United States, South Korea and Ukraine. Seoul, Washington and others fear that Russia can, in return, transfer sophisticated weapons technologies to North Korea that can improve its nuclear program.
It is considered that North Korean soldiers are very disciplined and well trained, but their lack of experience in combat and their ignorance of the plains largely flat that make up most of the battlefields in the Russian-Ukrainian war Easy white for drones attacks and artillery.
South Korea’s espionage agency said this month that it had evaluated that some 300 North Korean soldiers had died and another 2,700 had been injured. In early January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated the number of North Koreans killed or injured in 4,000, although US estimates were lower, around 1,200.
The South Korean joint staff said that North Korea is believed to be accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia, without saying how it came to that evaluation.
The deepening of military ties between North Korea and Russia could be emboldened to Kim about their treatment with the United States and South Korea. In an important political conference last month, Kim promised to implement the “tougher” antiestado policy. But many experts say that Kim could eventually want to sit down to talk with Trump if he believes that the US president could make concessions.
His previous conversations collapsed after Trump rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step of denuclearization, in exchange for broad relief of sanctions. Since then, Kim has drastically increased the rhythm of weapons tests to expand a nuclear missile arsenal directed to the United States and South Korea.
In South Korea, there is concern that Trump can give up the goal of a complete denuclearization of North Korea and concentrate on eliminating its long -range missile program that represents a direct threat to the United States, leaving intact its nuclear attack capabilities against South Korea.
During a Fox News interview broadcast on Thursday, Trump called Kim “an intelligent guy” and “not a religious fanatic.” When asked if he would approach Kim again, Trump replied: “I will, yes.”
On Monday, Trump called North Korea “a nuclear power” while boasting his personal ties with Kim. That created a stir in South Korea, since Washington, Seoul and its partners have long avoided North Korea as a nuclear state for fear that it can be considered to accept its search for nuclear weapons in violation of resolutions of the UN Security Council.
“I was very friendly to him. He pleases him. I liked it, ”Trump said during a press conference at the Oval office after his inauguration. “Now it is a nuclear power. But we get along. I think he will be happy to see what I return. ”
Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of South Korea, told journalists on Tuesday that efforts to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea should continue as a prerequisite to achieve lasting peace not only in the Korean peninsula but also In the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea also said that it will coordinate closely with the Trump administration to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea.
North Korea has not responded to Trump’s comments. A report from the state media on Friday on the two -day parliament meeting in Pyongyang this week did not say if Kim attended it, and the report did not mention the United States, South Korea, Russia or other foreign policy issues.
