[Craig Nigrelli]

North Korea now confirms what the United States had believed for months, that it sent troops to Ukraine, to fight alongside the Russians. Furthermore, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for its help.
The U.S., Ukraine and South Korean intelligence agencies had said that North Korea supplied between 10,000 and 12,000 troops to Russia. Up until now, there had been no confirmation.
According to the AP, North Korea’s Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party said leader Kim Jong Un sent the troops, under a mutual defense treaty and that their orders were to “annihilate and wipe out Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with Russian armed forces.” He called them heroes.
In a post on the Kremelin website, Putin praised the North Koreans who “shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended our Motherland as their own. “ He too called them heroes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had estimated the number of North Korean troops killed or wounded in Ukraine at 4000. While, the United States estimates were lower at about 1200.
The North Korean involvement would be their first participation in a major armed conflict since the Korean War in the early 1950s.
In addition to the troops, the AP reports North Korea has been supplying a vast number of weapons to Russia that might be reciprocated by Russia sending military and economic assistance to the North.
An analyst for the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in South Korea said North Korea is not expected to pull its troops out of Russia anytime soon as the war with Ukraine is still ongoing.
South Korea has now called for North Korea to withdraw its troops immediately, calling their involvement a grave provocation to international security.
The Trump administration has been trying to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
President Trump said on Sunday he hopes to reach an agreement in two weeks or less to end the fighting, though he said he is surprised and disappointed that Russia has continued bombing cities in Ukraine as peace talks have been ongoing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called this a critical week ahead.