These reports, which have not been confirmed by Pyongyang at the time of writing, have raised concerns at the Pentagon.
According to Breitbart, these concerns follow a significant visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang, where he signed a mutual defense treaty with Kim Jong-un. This treaty obligates both nations to respond if either is attacked. North Korean state media, the only legal news source in the country, has been celebrating Putin's visit and increasingly publishing propaganda pieces condemning Ukraine and reporting on Ukrainian attacks on Russia. These events could potentially trigger the mutual defense treaty, although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has clarified what type of military action could activate the treaty.
On June 21, conservative South Korean network TV Chosun reported that North Korea might be preparing to intervene in Ukraine. An anonymous South Korean official claimed that North Korea plans to "deploy a large-scale engineering force to occupied Donetsk Oblast as early as July 2024 to assist in rebuilding infrastructure in the occupied city of Donetsk," as translated by Ukrainska Pravda. Donetsk is one of two Ukrainian regions in the eastern territory known as the Donbass, where conflict between the Ukrainian military and Russia-backed separatists has been ongoing for nearly a decade before Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
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However, this report contradicts Putin's statements from the previous day, where he denied that either Russia or North Korea was seeking the other's military assistance. "As for the possibility of somehow using each other’s capabilities in this conflict. Well, we are not asking anyone for this, no one has offered it to us, so there is no need," Putin stated, as reported by Russian outlet Interfax and translated by the Ukrainian military.
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When asked about the potential involvement of North Korea in the Ukraine invasion, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder expressed concern. "That’s certainly something to keep an eye on," Ryder responded. "I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine.”
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However, independent North Korea monitor outlet NK News reported on June 27 that North Korea has not announced any such deployment or confirmed the reports. "While this possibility cannot be ruled out completely, neither North Korea nor Russia has made any such announcements so far," NK News observed.
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Despite the lack of confirmation, concerns about a potential escalation in Ukraine involving North Korean soldiers persist, especially given reports that Russians have been deceiving young men from countries like India and Cuba and forcing them to fight on the front lines. The nature of the mutual defense treaty also raises alarm.
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Putin described the treaty as a "comprehensive partnership" that "provides for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this treaty." However, the definition of "aggression" in this context remains unspecified, leaving the possibility of Pyongyang intervening unclear.
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North Korean state media has been increasing its volume of anti-Ukraine propaganda, condemning the Ukrainian government as a puppet regime under the control of the United States. North Korea is technically at war with the United States, South Korea’s top ally, as the 1950 Korean War never ended with a peace agreement or a formal surrender by either party.
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On June 23, the state outlet KCNA condemned Kyiv for using American ATACMS missiles to target occupied Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. "The Ukrainian military gangsters committed an inhuman crime of killing civilians by attacking Sevastopol City of Russia [sic] with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles tipped with cluster bombs," KCNA noted, labeling the strike a "terrorist attack" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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KCNA also criticized Zelensky for carrying out the attack shortly after the U.S. lifted restrictions on the use of U.S.-supplied weapons for attacks on Russian territory. "Russia’s stronger response for safeguarding the national interests and lives and security of its citizens is a just right to legitimate self-defence never to be refuted by anyone," the state outlet insisted.
