PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 25th, 2024: Russian Soldiers Condemn North Korean Recruits & Chinese Hackers Target Trump, Vance Cellphones
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It's Friday, 25 October. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, we'll have the latest on North Korea's entrance into the war in Ukraine as reports emerge that disgruntled Russian soldiers are already irate over their presence on the battlefield. Honestly, when it comes to an invasion, you can't please anybody these days.

Then, some breaking U.S. election news, as national security sources reveal that Chinese hackers tried to break into the personal cell phones of former President Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance But first, our afternoon spotlight It appears Moscow's efforts to bolster their frontline forces with North Korean troops, well, those efforts are already facing significant backlash from Russia's rank-and-file soldiers

As we've been tracking on the PDB, the Hermit Kingdom is deploying as many as 12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. Now, while the international community is obviously very concerned at this escalation and deepening involvement by North Korea, certainly that's a troubling problem. The reality may be that successfully integrating those DPRK troops into the Russian military would

Well, that could prove more difficult than Russian President Putin and his BFF North Korean leader Kim Jong-un initially imagined.

Leaked intercepts released Friday by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reveal that Russian troops have condemned the strategy and raised serious concerns about their ability to command and arm the North Korean recruits. According to a report from CNN, which reviewed the leaked conversations, Russian soldiers have expressed disdain for their North Korean counterparts, at one point casually referring to them as, quote, Oh, and just for listeners, by the way, if there's any kids listening...

earmuffs, casually referring to them as "the fucking Chinese". Hmm, so not only are there Russian troops and invading force, but they're also racist. In another leak, a soldier tasked with meeting new arrivals from North Korea asks "Ope, here we go again kids, earmuffs" "What the fuck to do with them?" Well, I suppose you could show them which direction is west so you can help with their plans to defect as soon as possible.

There are also reportedly concerns about their combat readiness and likely with good reason. As we discussed on last week's PDB, 18 North Korean troops who were deployed just four miles from the border with Ukraine reportedly deserted shortly after arrival.

Ukrainian officials said the audio was intercepted on Wednesday, providing a timely insight into the climate inside the Russian military. It also reveals part of Russia's strategy to integrate North Korean troops into their existing command structure. The Kremlin reportedly plans to have one interpreter and three senior Russian officers for every 30 North Korean men.

But troops say they don't have the manpower for that large number of new arrivals from the hermit kingdom. In the intercepts, one Russian serviceman remarks, quote, Oh, here we go again, kids. Earmuffs. Quote, I'm fucking telling you, there are 77 battalion commanders coming in tomorrow. There are commanders, deputy commanders, and so on.

Another soldier adds, quote, The audio also revealed that Moscow began moving North Korean battalions close to Russia's Kursk region on Thursday, where Ukraine has held territory since a lightning offensive in early August.

Ukraine's military intelligence service later confirmed that a group of North Korean troops had been spotted in Russia's Kursk region on Thursday. Well, to be fair, they could have been Chinese, according to the Russians anyway. On Friday, Ukrainian President Zelensky warned that, according to their intelligence, North Korean troops will enter active combat zones alongside Russian forces as early as this weekend.

Zelensky said Friday, quote, This is a clear step in Russia's escalation. The actual involvement of North Korea in combat should be met not with a blind eye and confused comments, but with tangible pressure on both Moscow and Pyongyang to comply with the UN Charter and to punish escalation, end quote.

Now, it's unclear at this time what the U.S. administration and the EU plan to do about this situation. The U.S. Secretary of Defense and the White House have referred to the development as serious and talked about how the North Korean troops will be fair game on the battlefield.

But harsh words and some dead North Korean troops, well, that won't change the behavior of Kim Jong-un and certainly won't have any impact on the Chinese regime, which in reality is the only administration with any actual leverage over Kim.

The Chinese regime has already bizarrely claimed that they don't know anything about North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian troops. And frankly, that's a statement that's about as believable as when one of my boys claimed that they had no idea how the empty beer cans ended up in their closet.

All right, coming up, Chinese hackers reportedly tried to break into the personal cell phones of former President Trump and Vice Presidential Candidate J.D. Vance. We'll have those details when we return.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. We turn to some U.S. election news now, as we learn that Chinese hackers have attempted to breach the personal cell phones of former President Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance. According to an exclusive report from the New York Times, citing national security sources, the Chinese cyber operatives recently launched a sophisticated hacking campaign that infiltrated Verizon phone systems.

Once they were burrowed into Verizon's network, they targeted data from phones used by Trump and Vance. Other current and former government officials were apparently also targeted in the cyber attack, including prominent figures on Capitol Hill and staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.

So far, few details have been released regarding the breach, and investigators are said to be working to determine what communications, if any, were taken or viewed by the Chinese hackers. According to the Times report, it remains unclear if the hackers were able to gain access to text messages, particularly any that were unencrypted.

Trump and Vance were notified about the potential breach earlier this week, though the campaign has not yet commented on the revelation.

While officials have not confirmed what specific Chinese group is behind the hack, Western cybersecurity experts believe it's related to a group known as Salt Typhoon. Earlier this year, intelligence officials discovered that the hackers had created backdoors into multiple American telecommunications companies, potentially exposing the data of millions to agents of the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP.

The news could obviously have significant national security implications, particularly if Chinese agents were able to record phone conversations or intercept texts. The incident follows a warning on Tuesday issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that China, along with Russia and Iran, are significantly escalating their efforts to undermine the upcoming presidential election, particularly through the use of hacks and cyber influence operations.

Officials warned that attempts at election interference from foreign adversaries will of course only intensify in the final days of the campaign as we make our way towards Election Day on the 5th of November.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Friday, 25 October. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbathefirsttv.com. And don't forget, not that I'd let you, but if it's Friday, which I have on good authority that it is, that means a new episode of our highly acclaimed, at least by my family, extended weekend show, the PDB Situation Report, launches this evening at 10 p.m. on The First TV.

It's also available on our much-loved YouTube channel, that's at President's Daily Brief, and all your favorite podcast platforms.

This week, we've got one half of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show hosts. That would be former CIA officer and man about town Buck Sexton. He'll share his insights on the upcoming U.S. election and its impact on national security concerns, as well as a P. Diddy story. I'll leave it at that. Also, my good friend and China expert Gordon Chang joins us to discuss China's increasingly aggressive actions towards Taiwan. He'll also share his insights on the upcoming U.S. election and its impact on national security concerns.

Gordon has just released a new book, which I do urge you to read, called Plan Red, China's Project to Destroy America. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.