North Korea blasts US support for Ukraine, and Russia sends new air defenses
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Hello listeners and welcome to the NK News Podcast. I'm your host, Jacko Zwetslut, and this here episode was recorded in the NK News studio on Tuesday, the 26th of November, 2024, and I'm joined in the studio by Junha Park. Junha, welcome. Thanks for having me back. So we've got a few stories this week to talk about, all of them kind of related to military things, to Ukraine and stuff like that. And the first one, let's start with a bit of

I don't know, irony. Let's start with the pot calling the kettle black. You've got a story there to tell us about. Kim Jong-un blasts the U.S. for supporting Ukraine while saying nothing about what he's doing to help Russia.

Yeah, so there was a major army conference in North Korea held in Pyongyang on November 14th to 15th. It's a long name. Let me give it to the listeners here. The Fourth Conference of Battalion Commanders and Political Instructors of the Korean People's Army. Indeed. So it focused on boosting war preparedness, ideological education, and modernizing combat strategies. And the big thing here was Kim Jong-un's speech.

Hold on, before that, the big thing is that's a giant auditorium. People who look at the stories can see the photographs. North Korea and China have some big auditoriums, but this one just looks massive. Absolutely. I mean, I think it kind of

reflects the kind of seniority that's present in the conference. And as I said, it focused mostly on modernizing combat strategies against the threats from the United States or so-called threats. And the big thing here was Kim Jong-un's speech and accused the United States of using Ukraine and the Israel conflicts to gain combat experience and expand global military intervention. However, did not mention North Korea's

presence in Russia. Or even sending armaments and self-propelled howitzers and whatnot. I mean, none of that was mentioned, right? Absolutely. And Kim Jong-un's speech went on to warn that US actions are pushing the world towards a potential World War III and highlighted NATO's role in escalating global tensions, including its expansion into Asian countries. Yes, he's suddenly taken a great interest in NATO and he accused

the US, South Korea and Japan are plotting to establish an Asian version of NATO. Indeed. So, you know, as we know, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, he's always been talking about an Asian NATO. It's kind of quieted down for the start of his cabinet duties. However, you know, the Asian NATO is what we have to differentiate here is that Ishiba's and Japan's wide-eyed goal is to target Chinese threats as well as North Korean threats, while Japan's

South Korea is looking towards North Korea mostly instead of China. So there are two different strategies. And even when it is looking at China, it doesn't say it's looking at China. No, absolutely not. So the inaccuracy of Kim Jong-un's kind of accusation towards US, South Korea, and Japan forming an Asian NATO is something that's blaring. Yeah. And he seems to be concerned about nuclear sharing. He mentioned that in the

context of this Asian version of NATO. The group is squarely directed at our state, its most hostile adversary and its longest standing foe. Yeah. So he was warning that allied forces are aiming to harm families in North Korea, urging soldiers to defend their positions at all costs and urging commanders to intensify the combat readiness and make every moment count for war preparation. Right.

Right. Now, it wasn't just the Marshal Kim Jong-un who gave a speech. Also, the new defense minister, Roh Kwang-chol, delivered a speech at the conference. Indeed. So I think Kim Jong-un and Roh Kwang-chol, they both kind of emphasized and stressed the importance of anti-US and anti-South Korea indoctrination for troops. They reinforced the idea that the army exists to fulfill the party's goals, even at the cost of soldiers' lives.

Now, I've got a sentence that I want to ask you about in the story. It says here, other unnamed speakers discussed deviations and lessons learned in examples of problematic commanders. What are these deviations and lessons learned? Well, I'm not sure, but I think that Rodong Sinmun, it does suggest that Kim Jong-un's kind of ideological control over the army and also the new defense ministers also

Going along with Kim Jong-un's ideological control and I think those deviations they're trying to mitigate that as much as possible Wow, okay. Gosh, so it does seem a bit of a Failing to not mention North Korea's contribution to Russia's war on you. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so it kind of I

The speech, you know, obviously did not mention North Korean troops in Russia and parts of Ukraine, as been reported over the past couple of days in the news. The speech kind of aligns, though, directly with DPRK's increased military activity and cooperation with Russia. And Ukraine has sort of targeted North Korean troops with defection propaganda as well.

So this is something that, so the conference, we can say it showcases loyalty to Kim Jong-un and loyalty to his leadership with awards and critiques of past command failures. So my question to you is, okay, we know that Kim Jong-un didn't mention it. Have there been any mentions in either Russian or North Korean media about North Korean troops in Russia? No, not yet. As far as we know? No, not yet. Okay, so there's still...

Remaining hush-hush on that one. Meanwhile, President Zelensky of Ukraine, he's said quite a bit about North Korean troops in Russia. Indeed. So I'm speaking to the European Parliament President Zelensky of Ukraine. He claimed that Russia may expand its use of North Korean troops in the region, potentially increasing the contingent from the currently confirmed 11K to 100K North Korean troops.

And he framed the alliance as a significant threat, but reassured that Ukraine and Europe are prepared to counter it. Now, 100,000 North Korean troops would be a heck of a lot on the battlefield. It could be enough to start a major push forward for Russia. Indeed, yeah. But we have some skepticism from South Korean analysts, experts. Yeah, so...

Shin Seung-gi, an expert from Kaida, he usually is one of our prominent speakers, but he kind of told us that the large-scale deployment of 100K troops is improbable. He's citing that North Korea's limited population and the strain on its own military of 1 million, the logistical challenges and risks of sending quite poorly trained replacements for lost troops is something that's quite glaring for North Korea.

And North Korea's aim may be economic and strategic compensation from Russia, such as foreign currency, resources, and weapons assistance. And he was basically suggesting that it's too much of a call for North Korea at this point. Sending 100,000 people? Mm-hmm. Well, but, okay, let's drill down on that a bit there. I mean, what about if North Korea decides to send rotating batches of 10,000 soldiers at a time for short- to mid-term deployments?

I mean, South Korea, during the Vietnam War, it had 300,000 troops in Vietnam, but never all at once. Absolutely. Over eight years, right? I mean, I don't think the expert was suggesting or Zelensky was suggesting that 100-cage troops would be sent just at once. Because that would be 10% of the North Korean standing army. I think that would be the biggest news on the North Korean front. But I think that, yeah, I completely agree with you in that sense.

These deployments will be held in stages. So we're not sure of the numbers and the contingencies of how many North Korean troops will be heading to Russia. However, it is quite likely that there will be an increase. However, whether that number reaches to 100K, that's something that's still left to be seen.

Okay, all right. Let's keep watching that now. But also in the same story, there was the same expert, I think that's Shinsung, he said something about the use of US ATAKOMS missiles by Ukraine, didn't he? Yeah, so ATAKOMS missiles, they're precision strike missiles. So they, you know, they can deplete a whole battalion. So they kind of

present a formidable threat to the Russian troops and the North Korean troops in Kursk, seeing as Biden has... He's given permission. He's given permission to use U.S.-supplied attack missiles to Ukraine. Just for our listeners there, just ballpark figure, what's the size of a battalion? A battalion would be somewhere around...

300 to 500 troops. Okay, so one attack could possibly, if targeted in the right way, if the men were concentrated in a high area, could wipe out 300 to 500 men. Indeed. So I think that North Korean troops could bolster Russia in specific localized conflicts, but they risk being targeted.

by those missiles. Now, also something interesting from that story is that there's some speculation going on that Kim Jong-un himself might make a visit to Russia. Yeah, so Kim Jong-un, the NIS, South Korea's spy agency, they reported speculation that Kim Jong-un might visit Russia.

following recent diplomatic exchanges between the North Korean foreign minister, Chae Sun-hee. Yes, she made a visit there late last month, early this month. Yeah, and visit to Moscow, and she reinforced Pyongyang-Moscow ties and the anti-American solidarity between the two countries. Okay, she may have talked about an impending visit by the leader. Yeah, but it's still speculation, so we still have to wait and see.

All right. So our third and final story to talk about today is about Russia. Possibly, well, one way that Russia might be paying North Korea for these troops is sending anti-air missiles to North Korea. Yeah. So South Korea's national security advisor, Shin Won-sik, he appeared on an SBS interview, a local media interview just last Friday, and he confirmed that Russia provided North Korea with air defense systems and anti-aircraft missiles for a

Part of a broader exchange for DPRK troops and artillery equipment sent to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia also pledged support for North Korea's satellite technology after its failed satellite launch in May. So there's still a lot of revelations that are coming up.

It's quite a thing to drop in an interview with SBS. Normally this kind of information is released through government channels rather than on a major broadcaster. Yeah, I mean, the NIS confirmed also last week that North Korea has supplied two Russian brigades worth of 170mm Koxan self-propelled guns and...

240mm multiple rocket launches to Russia. So approximately 4,000 North Korean artillery personnel may be deployed to operate these systems, according to Shin. Ah, okay. So rather than infantry, these are 4,000 artillery personnel. Yes, he did kind of...

juggle the possibility of these personnel being present in Russia. Now, I also saw a mention in that story about the USROK alliance with support from Japan being able to overcome the challenges posed by DPRK-Russia military technology transfers that's said by the defense chief of the ROK military. Mm-hmm.

Interesting to see Japan mentioned in that same sentence there. Yeah, so I mean the US Rock Alliance along with Japan has been undertaking military exercises, trilateral military exercises for the past couple of years. It's fair to say that after the Camp David summit,

that the three countries have been quite aligned in their military capabilities and also their military objectives in deterring North Korean threats. So I think that the South Korean defense chief, he's kind of adhering to that. Okay. Now, but there is something that we should really go back to where we started with this, which is that Russia sending anti-air missiles to North Korea, that's helpful, but you can't just... New technology is not like Lego. You can't just stick a brick on an already existing piece. I mean...

Integration and interoperability, these are issues here. So how easy will it be for North Korea to take these defense systems, anti-air defense systems from Russia and just start using them? Well, the experts that we've been talking to, especially concerning Pyongyang's air defense systems, they're severely lacking compared to their South Korean and U.S. counterparts.

We know that from the drone that went over Pyongyang. Gosh, was it last month already? Dropping those anti-regime leaflets? Yeah, so the integration of Russian air defense systems or the air defense systems that have been sent to North Korea by Shin's claims will take time and may be hindered by Pyongyang's limited resources, as I've mentioned. And Russian technology, it could enhance the localized defenses in the DPRK, but it won't fundamentally alter

the strategic balance in the region or what experts have said. Right, right. Okay, well, something else to keep an eye on there. Gosh, there's so many moving parts and we've still got a month left before the end of the year. I wonder if North Korea has a Christmas present in store for us for this year. Well, we have to wait and see. There's been talks of different tests and whatnot. So we'll have to see what Christmas present they have in store. Oh dear. All right. Well, thank you very much, Junho Park, for coming on the NK News Podcast. Thanks very much.

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Ladies and gentlemen, that brings us to the end of our podcast episode for today. Our thanks go to Brian Betts and Alana Hill for facilitating this episode and to our post-recording producer genius, Gabby Magnusson, who cuts out all the extraneous noises, awkward silences, bodily functions, and fixes the audio levels. Thank you and listen again next time.