Evening Edition: Is North Korea Supporting Russia With Troops?
18:48 Share

I'm Brett Baer. I'm Rachel Campos-Duffy. I'm David Asman, and this is the Fox News Rundown. Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024. I'm Grinnell Scott.

Ukraine and the world are watching a rapidly developing partnership between Russia and North Korea that could mean a new and perhaps more dangerous phase in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, now well into its third year. Russia could potentially be bolstering its forces, not only from within, but allegedly getting troops from North Korea. This is something that we've heard Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky sound the alarm over. This is the Fox News Rundown.

evening edition.

There is a new nervousness in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and North Korea appears to be at the heart of it. The world was watching just this past June when Russian leader Vladimir Putin made a rare trip outside his country to North Korea for a meeting with Kim Jong-un. Many believe it's during this time the two nations solidified a mutual agreement to stand at each other's side should one be threatened.

As Russia continues its incursion into Ukraine, North Korea appears willing to stand at their side. In the past, through translated comments, Russian President Putin has diverted blame away from his own nation for the Ukrainian conflict. Responsibility for fomenting the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation and for the increasing number of victims lies entirely with Western elites.

and of course the current regime in Kyiv, for which the Ukrainian people are essentially strangers. Depending on who you talk to at this moment, the concentration of North Korean aid being deployed to supplement Russian assets in Ukraine is assured, but widely disputed by the numbers.

This is extremely alarming for not only the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian people, but especially the Ukrainian forces that are fighting on the front lines. Alex Hogan is a Fox News foreign correspondent based in London. To know that Russia could potentially be bolstering its forces, not only from within, but also now outside.

allegedly getting troops from North Korea. This is something that we've heard Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sound the alarm over saying that he had intelligence initially that there were 10,000 North Korean soldiers that were being prepared to join Russian forces. We're hearing something different from South Korea where they released information saying that North Korea has supplied Moscow with

1500 special ops agents and those agents are going to be going in to help Russia's war in Ukraine. So as a result of this, this is creating a lot of concern on the ground in Ukraine, on the ground in South Korea. And we can jump into those reasons a little bit later, but also a lot of concern internationally. We've heard the U S and other allies saying that they are extremely alarmed by this pandemic.

potential, what this would not only mean for Russian forces, but also what this could mean for North Korea and its potential nuclear threats. When we look at the genesis of this, and we know there is a piece of a border that Russia and North Korea share. And back in June, I believe it was, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong,

Russian President Vladimir Putin took a trip to Pyongyang to have a chat. Is the feeling is this is when a lot of this came together? Well, we've really been seeing a growing, warming relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. So in the years that have passed, I mean, we've just seen everything from...

more lavish gifts that are explained, these elaborate trips where they show off each other's weaponry, talking about future cooperation. They even released a video in this recent trip where they were driving around in a car together in what appeared to be some kind of dash cam footage or GoPro footage, really showcasing these two leaders not only talking international values

cooperation potential, but also just hanging out in what appeared to be a video of what was creating the image of two friends. And that's exactly what we've heard both leaders say, that they have this growing relationship and why that is concerning for the rest of the world and people looking very closely at the situation. Not only could this potentially

potentially mean a benefit for Russian forces they have been trying to bolster their forces so that could be more boots on the ground and more manpower it's also a massive threat for South Korea so South Korea is doing multiple things as a result of this they are calling for the immediate withdrawal of these North Korean troops allegedly deployed in Russia again it is worth

reminding that we are saying alleged and supposed because while some other countries are saying this is definitely happening, we've not heard that official confirmation from the U.S. just yet. There's another thing that South Korea is also doing. It's

Saying that it could even go as far as supplying weapons to Ukraine as what would be a means to put pressure on Russia to not bring in these North Korean troops, because the big concern for South Korea is that if.

North Korea really was supplying troops to Russia, to help Russia, that Russia inevitably would want to repay North Korea. Now, what that repayment looks like, of course, that's not exactly clear. But the idea is that it

potentially could be some form of new technology, new weaponry, and it comes at a time of really, really bad tensions that we have been seeing boiling over, not only within the last several years with more missile launches and tests than North Korea conducts, which are extremely concerning for the South Korean government and South Korean residents, but there's also the concern, given the

the massive amounts of trash balloons that North Korea has been sending over to South Korea. And just last week, North Korea conducted this choreographed detonation, blowing up all of the roads that once connected it to South Korea. So a high time of tension between these two border countries. And then the concern is that if North Korea is helping Russia, that Russia will help North Korea back and make this

just that much worse. The interesting part in what you gave there, a very thorough answer as to what this means all around is the piece about the

the South Korean idea of perhaps sending weaponry to Ukraine. Perhaps we should understand what South Korea's, I guess, role is at this point. Are they not sending anything to Ukraine? Are they sort of standing by? Where do they stand at this moment? There's no direct support at this point in terms of North South Korea. It has been one of the

majority of countries around the world that has vehemently condemned the war in Ukraine and Russia's invasion started in 2022. But this would be a completely different step. In this release that we're seeing in some of these statements, there's no specifics about what this would be. It really seems like this...

potential of sending weapons is more than anything a way to deter Russia from using any kind of North Korean troops on the ground. And it's not by any means a country that is helping support Ukraine to the same extent that we are seeing

the U.S., the U.K., Germany, all of these major key players. And as you mentioned earlier, there's been a lot of conversations just in recent weeks over how do you move forward with what is happening in Ukraine. So this week,

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He visited Ukraine to meet with Zelensky and talk about where we go from here, kind of taking a step back and looking at the U.S. perspective. And the big thing right now, as we're talking about international support and who's supplying weaponry and who is giving this aid, Zelensky has been touting this

victory plan. And that's something that, you know, were this to come to fruition, it would be able to benefit a lot of countries at the same time in terms of, you know, South Korea wouldn't have to be worried about what the

what the gift that Russia might give North Korea as a result might be. If we actually are having a conversation as to will this victory plan play out, there's a lot of skepticism. There's a lot of mixed reviews around Europe as to whether this can really happen. We can break that down a little bit more, but there's a lot in that as well.

We're speaking with Fox News foreign correspondent Alex Hogan. More of our conversation coming up.

You talked about Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and the discussions that he has had with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. And one of the things that often comes up about the weapons that the United States is supplying for Ukraine is how that weaponry is used. Has that come up at all as far as any change in weapons?

With this growing partnership that we're seeing on the side of Russia and North Korea, has there been any change in discussion that we have heard about the liberal use of U.S. weapons in defending Ukraine? So far, that policy really has remained that

Ukraine should be able to defend itself by striking targets from which it knows it is going to be hit. And that is a similar strategy that we've seen most of the countries that are supplying weapons to Ukraine take. There are

variations and that really falls into specifics of Sweden gave very specific terminology. France, very different terminology. Germany, very different terminology. And when it comes to this victory plan, one of the bullet points, there's several in this that you've

Ukraine wants an invitation to NATO, further defense, nuclear deterrence, these post-war perspectives to be able to help NATO in the future. But as it pertains to that

bullet point on defense and being able to strike areas to really fight back and bring this war to an end. That's something that, for example, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refuted, saying that the supply of long-range cruise missiles specifically to Kyiv would really only contradict the

the goal of not hitting other targets. And that's what we continue to see. So there's been no major change just yet. Of course, that's what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is hoping will change as we move forward. But we're still hearing this resounding message of unity and support from Washington. How far

That support goes in terms of some of these new demands that has yet to be seen. If Ukraine were to officially become a member of NATO, as it hopes to become through this victory plan proposal, that, of course, would create problems.

A major issue, which is one that we were talking about at the very beginning of the war, is that if Ukraine were a part of NATO, it essentially would be bringing up Title V or Article V where other countries would have to get involved. Interesting you mentioned that because I wanted to bring up this point. And because this is such a fluid situation as to how this war is playing out and who's

winning or not winning at any one point. And we talk about the partnership that we see developing between Russia and North Korea. I wonder how much we know about word of a summit that

Vladimir Putin is trying to put together, maybe even trying to piece together a larger coalition that could counterbalance the support that Ukraine has among many world nations. Do we know much about that? Is that something we're still trying to dig deeper into? Well, I think that is a great question because it's a question that is on the minds of so many leaders right now watching this very

fluid and unfortunately very, very tragic situation. Anytime that we look at a war such as this, you know, you're just seeing two countries that have been at war for two years now and the countless numbers of lives, we still don't have that exact number of how many people have died and just how tragic it is on the ground for those families and the broader fear that this really could spill out

into something much, much larger. So there is that very real concern that Russia will continue to build some of these relationships and that one after another we could see more countries

potentially either supplying weapons or supplying manpower. We know that we've continued to see Iranian-made drones being used in the battlefield. So now these new developments of having potential North Korean soldiers fighting alongside them, it is a very different dynamic that we are potentially talking about as it pertains to more people. And that has been

The main sticking point for not giving Ukraine more aid throughout the war has been other leaders trying to prevent the loss of life of their own citizens by sending them to fight in this war. So to see another country potentially supplying Russia with that manpower and those troops, those boots on the ground, it is something that there are a lot of conversations actively playing out about how do we control these

these potentially worsening situations and tensions? And where do we go from here if this is what is going to potentially be playing out? Where do we go from here? That is the question. It is a threat and a conflict that we are watching very closely.

very closely and will continue to do so. Alex Hogan is a Fox News foreign correspondent based over in London, keeping an eye on the situation for us. Alex, thank you so much for joining us on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition. Thanks so much for having me.

You've been listening to the Fox News Rundown. And now, stay up to date by subscribing to this podcast at foxnewspodcasts.com. Listen ad-free on Fox News Podcasts Plus on Apple Podcasts. And Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on Amazon Music. And for up-to-the-minute news, go to foxnews.com.

Pull up a chair and join me, Rachel Campos Duffy, and me, former U.S. Congressman Sean Duffy, as we share our perspective on the discussions happening at kitchen tables across America. Download From the Kitchen Table, The Duffys, at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you download podcasts.