The story of North Korean soldiers who are allegedly fighting for Russia against Ukraine continues to evolved.
There are now supposedly some 11,000 or 12,000 North Korean soldiers in the Russian Kursk region. They are, supposedly, getting ready to fight against the Ukrainian incursion forces on Russian ground.
I continue to believe that the whole story about North Korean soldiers in Russia is bovine excrement.
As I had written two weeks ago:
Ukraine – Threat Of North Korean Soldiers Is Based on U.S. Info Campaign
Shortly after RAND proposed a U.S. information operation campaign around the theme of North Korean soldiers in Russia the Ukrainian military intelligence service under CIA trainee Budanov started to spread rumors of North Korean soldiers soon to fight on the Russian side. The numbers claimed by Budanov have since steadily increased. South Korean intelligence, also associated with the CIA, and U.S. media have joined the campaign. The chair of the House Intelligence Committee is milking the campaign to make political points.
Evidence that was supposed to support the claims has been exposed as being fake. The whole story is thus based on nothing but 'intelligence' rumors which are following a RAND proposed script. Don't fall for it.
Since then new fake news items about the 'North Korean soldiers' have been added each and every day. The numbers have grown bigger. The 'North Koreans' have come more near to Ukraine. Warnings are coming from more and more officials and places.
I have been wondering if and how the people who have spread this nonsense would finally produce evidence for it.
I first though that this would be handled like the fake reports about an Iranian missile transfer to Russia. Such a transfer never happened but Iranian civilian airlines got sanctioned over it. Since then no new reports about any such missile transfers came out. It had been a pure 'information operation', which had used false assertions from anonymous 'officials', that had achieved its purpose.
But there is nothing left to sanction about North Korea or Russia. So what is this about?
The likely purpose of the 'North Korean soldiers' campaign is to get more support for Ukraine.
This, [Zelenski] hopes, will incite western forces to send their own troops to Ukraine if only to counter the North Koreans.
But to achieve that requires to present real evidence. No western country, nor South Korea, will send weapons or soldiers based on pure rumors. There will be requests of real evidence. How can the lack of such be explained?
Today the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov, has given a hint how Ukraine will handle this issue (machine translation):
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed the words of the head of the National Security and Defense Council's Center for Combating Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko , that the first "small-scale fighting" had already taken place between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and North Korean soldiers, and the Koreans had suffered losses.
…
Umerov also said that the Russian Federation disguises Koreans as Buryats, so the dead and prisoners must be identified before Ukraine calls the number of enemy losses.
The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia which sprawls along the southern coast and partially straddles Lake Baikal.
There are about half a million Buryat citizens of the Russian Federation. To western eyes Buryat look Asian and not immediately distinct from people from North Korea. A decent share of the Buryats have taken well paid jobs in the military forces of Russia. There will be several around the fronts in Ukraine.
As soon as some Buryat soldier of Russia will turn up dead, the Ukrainian military will present him as a disguised North Korean soldier. Some black and white photos will be found of a similar looking person in North Korean uniform …
"There is your prove. Now send soldiers and weapons." will Umerov say.
Either that – or the whole thing will die down and soon be forgotten.