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North Korea’s military is being transformed on the battlefields of Ukraine – so why is Seoul silent?
The Guardian ^ | Thu 24 Jul 2025 | Raphael Rashid

Posted on 07/24/2025 4:52:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

When North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles from its eastern coast in May, South Korea’s response was swift. Within hours, Seoul joined Washington and Tokyo in condemning the launch as a “serious threat” to regional peace and security.

But just weeks earlier, when a North Korean KN-23 missile – designed to strike South Korean targets – hit a residential building in Kyiv, killing 12 civilians, Seoul said nothing.

That silence fits a broader pattern. There was no response when Russia reportedly deployed a surface-to-air missile system to protect Pyongyang, nor when Ukrainian intelligence revealed that Russian instructors were training North Korean drone pilots on home soil, even as Kim Jong-un voiced “unconditional support” for Moscow’s war.

Relations between the North and South, technically still at war, remain tense and the muted response has raised questions from analysts over whether Seoul fully grasps the consequences of what many see as North Korea’s most significant military transformation in decades – one shaped in real warfare, on the battlefields of Ukraine.

“We definitely should be alarmed,” says Chun In-bum, a former South Korean special forces commander. “But it’s just the nature of people to avoid catastrophe or be indifferent to the terrors of reality.”

Learning modern warfare

According to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, North Korea supplies 40% of all munitions used by Russia in its war against Kyiv. It has dramatically increased arms production at home, with Moscow paying Pyongyang directly.

In autumn last year, Pyongyang dispatched an estimated 12,000 troops to fight in Russia’s Kursk region. That deployment has since expanded significantly. An additional 6,000 soldiers are now joined by 1,000 military engineers, hundreds of railway engineers, bridge-building specialists, logistics personnel, electricians, military police, and even interpreters, focused largely on rebuilding the battle-scarred Kursk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Ukraine
KEYWORDS: drones; nk; pyongyang; skorea; ukrainewar; warfare

1 posted on 07/24/2025 4:52:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Hmmmn. What should it say and why?


2 posted on 07/24/2025 4:59:24 PM PDT by NorseViking
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To: MinorityRepublican

People here have scoffed at me when I say South Korea had better pay attention because the NORKS are providing cutting edge training to its forces which will not go unused against the South.


3 posted on 07/24/2025 5:01:00 PM PDT by fso301
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To: fso301
People here have scoffed at me when I say South Korea had better pay attention because the NORKS are providing cutting edge training to its forces which will not go unused against the South.

Seoul is right across the border. They can literally take Seoul in three days.

4 posted on 07/24/2025 5:03:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

The Left now runs things in South Korea the former Conservative President tried martial law to put down the Left but he ended up impeached and removed from office.

The Left in South Korea fairly friendly with China the only leverage Trump has is threatening tariffs to encourage the SK gov’t to be more on the US side militarily opposed to NK, China, Russia etc. IMHO


5 posted on 07/24/2025 5:14:46 PM PDT by Nextrush (FREEDOM IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, REMEMBER REV; NIEMOLLER)
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To: MinorityRepublican

This is the first opportunity for NOK forces, including its officer corps, to get combat experience since the 1950s, which is basically, ever. That has always been the hidden NK Achilles heel—their military has never been in live warfare. And we saw when they first went to fight in Kursk, they were slaughtered wholesale. That’s not happening now.

So yes SK may not have a say in the matter of what the NK army does, but they would be wise to tend to updating their own troops and their doctrines, to adapt to the 21st century battlefield. NK is certainly doing so.


6 posted on 07/24/2025 5:20:20 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

You can bet South Korea has a delegation in Ukraine now watching closely the Norks. I wonder if they have tried to seduce them into defecting although surely we would not hear about it. From reports, it seems the Norks are handling themselves very well and many have been killed and wounded.


7 posted on 07/24/2025 6:09:27 PM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: MinorityRepublican

Russia was fighting for Communist North Korea in the past, now North Korea is fighting for Russia.


8 posted on 07/24/2025 6:18:17 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: MinorityRepublican

Because Seoul is not the Guardian?


9 posted on 07/24/2025 11:20:37 PM PDT by Mr Radical (In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

FTA: so why is Seoul silent?

The North Koreans are being slaughtered.
I guess the South should say send more to Russia...


10 posted on 07/25/2025 1:00:47 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (Making money now. Still want much more.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

South Korea is technologically superior so I would imagine if the need arose they can put up a million drones in a week, so they’re not worried.


11 posted on 07/25/2025 4:54:00 AM PDT by exPBRrat
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To: exPBRrat

Kim is just trying to win his seat at the table of the Axis of Evil. Its a good bet and has gained much from his pact with Russia. Markets for his weapons—even if inferior. Russia can pay in oil and grain. Once a laughing stock on the world stage, North Korea is becoming a world player. If South Korea should worry its about keeping Leftists out of power. If WW should come—it will be North Korea’s job to bottle up Japan and South Korea. The threat of nukes might be enough to keep them from helping the USA and NATO.


12 posted on 07/25/2025 5:21:44 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (. War is Hell, War IS a Crime.)
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To: NorseViking

North Korea is China. Their tech is Chinese. Their weapons are loaded with Chinese components. So when you say that North Korean weapons hit Ukraine, you are actually saying Chinese weapons are being used by Russia to hit Ukraine.


13 posted on 07/25/2025 9:38:25 AM PDT by poinq (thics and customs and did not take an oath to the country. And did not follow the country's traditio)
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To: MinorityRepublican

All war is the test bed for the next war.


14 posted on 07/25/2025 10:00:19 AM PDT by Rlsau1
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