US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin says they have received confirmation that there are North Korean soldiers in Russia. – Now that it has been confirmed, I have to say that it is very serious and very worrying. This means that there could be an even more dangerous war, says Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. New video images will show North Korean soldiers training inside Russia. South Korea has previously referred to satellite images. RUSSIA: Satellite images are said to show North Korean forces massed on the ground at the Russian military facility in Khabarovsk on October 16, 2024. The image was taken by Airbus Space and Defence, and was released by the South Korean intelligence service NIS. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP Russia has received drones and weapons from other countries. Foreign fighters also fight on the Russian side. But it is the first time that another country contributes directly with soldiers, if the North Koreans are sent to the front. On Thursday, a defense agreement between Russia and North Korea was approved by the Russian National Assembly. The agreement was unanimously approved, reports the AFP news agency. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has referred to the soldiers from North Korea as the first step towards world war. According to the US, at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia. Ukraine says North Korea plans to send 12,000, and that they will be used in the war against Ukraine. – It is both a serious escalation and a sign that not everything is going so well in Russia. If it had gone well, they would probably have control over this themselves, says Eide. This is how news has verified the videos The videos showing what are supposed to be soldiers from North Korea have been shared by several accounts on social media. news has verified the location of the videos of a military camp near the town of Sergeevka, in eastern Russia. The men in the videos are dressed in Russian military uniforms. news has not found any publication of the videos before 18 October 2024. May have significance for the USA Ine Eriksen Søreide (H), head of the foreign affairs and defense committee in the Storting, agrees with the foreign minister in this description. She says it is a picture of the global nature of war. Russia has received a lot of military support from Iran, North Korea and partly from China. – One can speculate on what North Korea will get in return. It can be money and food, it can be help for the country’s nuclear programme, but another important point is that they get soldiers with combat experience they don’t have today, says Søreide. CONCERNED: Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Photo: Tom Balgaard / Tom Balgaard – This could mean that the USA’s willingness to stand up more could actually increase, Eide adds. The US is concerned with the balance of power in the Pacific region, and that North Korea does not become stronger. South Korea now says it is considering sending weapons to Ukraine, writes AFP. Russian authorities say North Korea is a close neighbor and that the countries are looking at cooperation in several areas. – This cooperation is not aimed at other countries, claims spokesman Dmitry Peskov. North Korea does not have as advanced equipment as Russia, but has one of the world’s largest military forces with 1.3 million soldiers. – Will try to take back Kursk The soldiers from North Korea have been filmed at a military base in the far east of Russia. The plan is for them to be used to win back Kursk, an area of Russia that Ukraine took partial control of in August. This is reported by Ukrainian intelligence, which claims that elite soldiers have arrived. In August, Ukraine had taken control of around 1,000 square kilometers on the Russian side. This should have shrunk to 600-700, writes the Financial Times. But Russia will probably have to double the force they have of 50,000 in Kursk if they are to manage to force the Ukrainians back, says a researcher to the newspaper. But the North Korean soldiers can still be important for Russia, believes war researcher Jack Watling at the Royal United Services Institute. – They can have quite good cohesion. They may have an okay moral. They may be able to operate on a scale that the Russians struggle with. The list is quite low to do better than Russian soldiers at the moment, Watling believes. Published 24.10.2024, at 13.14 Updated 24.10.2024, at 1:30 p.m
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