Russian lawmakers have ratified a pact with North Korea envisioning mutual military assistance, a move that comes even as the U.S. confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.
Russia gets a bunch of troops that have no combat experience vs. a bunch of hardened Ukrainian combat veterans and it’s virtually guaranteed that a good portion will try to defect.
What does North Korea get out of this? Reducing surplus population?
More than that, they supposedly punish multiple generations of the family in labor camps. You can Google something like North Korea 3 generations to see the details.
These aren’t cadets. They’re probably extremely loyal and well trained. What they get is real modern warfare experience they will bring back home. Maybe, as a remote possibility, they’ll get nuclear info to improve on their own projects.
No amount of training will make you ready for actual combat. There’s a hell of a lot of difference when actual bullets are whizzing by you than when someone’s yelling at you to pretend they are.
Fair enough. We’ll have to see how it plays out. I have a feeling they’ll be more reliable and motivated than most of their Russian counterparts. Who knows, they might not even see the front line, it’s all just a mystery.
Rumor is that North Korea get what a volunteer would get.
I believe Russia recently raised that to the equivalent of $30k.
If true that is $300 million for Kim Jong Un. On top of all the crap equipment Russia has bought.
Not a lot for a normal country, but for a dictator who pocket most of it, it’s probably pretty nice.
Russia gets a bunch of troops that have no combat experience vs. a bunch of hardened Ukrainian combat veterans and it’s virtually guaranteed that a good portion will try to defect.
What does North Korea get out of this? Reducing surplus population?
goodwill from an arms exporter. money, food, other aid. actual military experience for their armed forces.
Bunch of malnourished troops as well. They aren’t just genetically short.
Any survivors will bring back experience, so there is that. And they will learn modern warfare stuff, like drone/antidrone tactics.
I think any survivors will be applying for Ukrainian citizenship.
The smart ones for sure, but a lifetime of propaganda is a hell of a drug :/
More than that, they supposedly punish multiple generations of the family in labor camps. You can Google something like North Korea 3 generations to see the details.
Yeah, rough situation. Ideally, Ukraine needs a way to signal to them, “If you surrender, we’ll say you were captured/killed so your family is safe”.
These aren’t cadets. They’re probably extremely loyal and well trained. What they get is real modern warfare experience they will bring back home. Maybe, as a remote possibility, they’ll get nuclear info to improve on their own projects.
No amount of training will make you ready for actual combat. There’s a hell of a lot of difference when actual bullets are whizzing by you than when someone’s yelling at you to pretend they are.
Fair enough. We’ll have to see how it plays out. I have a feeling they’ll be more reliable and motivated than most of their Russian counterparts. Who knows, they might not even see the front line, it’s all just a mystery.
Right… that’s why they are putting them in actual combat. Whoever survives will be elite NK soldiers.
That part is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Rumor is that North Korea get what a volunteer would get.
I believe Russia recently raised that to the equivalent of $30k.
If true that is $300 million for Kim Jong Un. On top of all the crap equipment Russia has bought.
Not a lot for a normal country, but for a dictator who pocket most of it, it’s probably pretty nice.
Probably some big trade deals which they negotiated over a year.
NK needs a lot of external resources to survive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they essentially traded soldiers for exactly that.