North Korean troops join Ukraine war

Officials in Kyiv and South Korea have accused North Korea of dispatching troops, estimated to number in the thousands, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine


Late 2022: First reports emerge of North Korean arms shipments to Russia. Pyongyang has since sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery shells, ballistic missiles and anti-tank rockets, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS)
    
Jun 2024 
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs treaty with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un (left), including mutual defence clause

Oct 8-13: Russian navy ships move North Korean special forces to Vladivostok, NIS says

Oct 17: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claims 10,000 North Korean troops could join Russia’s war in Ukraine

Oct 18: NIS estimates North could send 12,000 troops in total, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia’s Far East
    
NIS says it used facial recognition technology to identify North Korean officers visiting Ukraine to assist with launch of KN-23 missiles supplied by Pyongyang

Oct 19: Ukraine releases video purportedly showing North Korean soldiers receiving basic supplies at Russian training base (above)

Nov 1: North Korean troops will be combat-ready, Ukraine asserts
       

Sources: BBC, Reuters, The Independent 
Pictures: Getty Images, CSCIS 
© GRAPHIC NEWS