416
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Engineers said to be supporting missile launches and reports of North Koreans killed near Donetsk

North Korean military engineers have been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles, and North Koreans operating in occupied areas of Ukraine have already been killed, senior officials in Kyiv and Seoul said.

There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that "support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles", a source in Ukraine told the Guardian.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, last year travelled to Russia for a summit with Vladimir Putin where the two men bolstered their deepening ties with a secret arms deal.

Pyongyang's ammunition shipments were vital in allowing Russian forces to advance in a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine this summer. But it appears increasingly clear that the agreement went beyond supplying materiel.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Hotspur@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 month ago

I find it interesting that the loaned DPRK are operating ballistic missile platforms. Makes me wonder if part of the intention is to skill up some of the army units with combat launching exp, which is not the happiest thought, since NK has a continental US capable truck-launched ICBM since 2017.

Of course the plan doesn’t work if they all get killed by Ukrainian drone attacks, but NK has never been too precious about their rank and file anyway.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

These are comparatively safer positions.

[-] Hotspur@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah sounds like logistics support?

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Maybe that, maybe with more direct involvement in the warfare. I just see it's unlikely they'd use people of NK in the deathliest skirmishes while depending on their supplies. Not to say that there is a huge language barrier and a racism problem them making me believe there are probably whole north korean units in some places rather than them being evenly spread across different divisions.

this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
416 points (97.7% liked)

World News

39231 readers
1280 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS