Over time perhaps as many as 10,000 North Korean troops could be dispatched to Russia to help with Vladimir Putin's continued aggression against Ukraine, according to multiple reports.
South Korean intelligence sources say 1,500 North Korean special forces troops have been sent to Russia's Far East for training and acclimatizing at military bases there. They appear to be preparing for combat in the war.
The North Korean troops have been given Russian military uniforms, weapons and forged identification documents, the sources says.
Bob Maginnis is a senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council and author of about a dozen books on national defense issues, including "Kings of the East."
Nothing new for North Koreans
"The North Koreans have always done this. They've loaned tens of thousands of people to the Chinese for
running factories. They're doing the same thing, it appears, for the Russians. It’s not only engineers, but it's also troops that are engaging in fighting."
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service posted on its website satellite and other photos showing what it calls Russian navy ship movements near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk in the past week, The Associated Press reported.
Maginnis says the leaders from North Korea and Russia have been very cozy of late.
"Earlier this year, you found Putin visiting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, and they exchanged pleasantries and gifts and the like. Of course, the North Koreans have shipped lots of artillery rounds and missiles to the Russians that are now verified as having been used against Ukraine. So, none of this is surprising."
