Russian lawmakers have ratified a pact with North Korea envisioning mutual military assistance, a move that comes even as the U.S. confirmed the deployment of 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia.
    • thejml@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      19 days ago

      Weren’t they already? I seem to remember Trump and “Rocket Man” talks and such the last time he was in office and MAGA was down for it.

      Doesn’t make it less fucked up, just that there’s a lot of that to follow.

  • njm1314@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    19 days ago

    Once again the US is still at war with North Korea, that means all North Korean troops in the Ukraine are valid targets.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    7·
    19 days ago

    Russia gets a bunch of troops that have no combat experience vs. a bunch of hardened Ukrainian combat veterans and it’s virtually guaranteed that a good portion will try to defect.

    What does North Korea get out of this? Reducing surplus population?

    • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.ukEnglish
      11·
      19 days ago

      What does North Korea get out of this?

      goodwill from an arms exporter. money, food, other aid. actual military experience for their armed forces.

    • CameronDev@programming.devEnglish
      8·
      19 days ago

      Bunch of malnourished troops as well. They aren’t just genetically short.

      Any survivors will bring back experience, so there is that. And they will learn modern warfare stuff, like drone/antidrone tactics.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      19 days ago

      Rumor is that North Korea get what a volunteer would get.
      I believe Russia recently raised that to the equivalent of $30k.
      If true that is $300 million for Kim Jong Un. On top of all the crap equipment Russia has bought.
      Not a lot for a normal country, but for a dictator who pocket most of it, it’s probably pretty nice.

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      19 days ago

      These aren’t cadets. They’re probably extremely loyal and well trained. What they get is real modern warfare experience they will bring back home. Maybe, as a remote possibility, they’ll get nuclear info to improve on their own projects.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        3·
        19 days ago

        No amount of training will make you ready for actual combat. There’s a hell of a lot of difference when actual bullets are whizzing by you than when someone’s yelling at you to pretend they are.

        • Pilferjinx@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          18 days ago

          Fair enough. We’ll have to see how it plays out. I have a feeling they’ll be more reliable and motivated than most of their Russian counterparts. Who knows, they might not even see the front line, it’s all just a mystery.

    • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      18 days ago

      Probably some big trade deals which they negotiated over a year.

      NK needs a lot of external resources to survive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they essentially traded soldiers for exactly that.