Moscow prepares 50,000 Russian and North Korean forces to retake Kursk from Ukraine: officials
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Western propaganda
What's the TLR excuse for this now?
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If North Korea takes out enough Russian Troops, then Ukraine has nothing to worry about
Russians ‘burning faces’ of dead North Koreans to keep them secret: Zelenskyy
US says it has ‘indications’ of North Koreans killed and wounded.
By Taejun Kang for RFA
2024.12.17
A screenshot of a video released by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy. Zelenskyy said it shows Russians burning the face of a dead North Korean soldier. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA. (Volodymyr Zelenskiyy’s official Telegram channel)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Russian forces are burning the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in assaults on Ukrainian positions to conceal their identities and keep secret their deployment to help Russia in its war, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russia had begun using North Koreans in significant numbers for the first time to assault Ukrainian positions and his forces released images and videos of what it said were the bodies of North Koreans soldiers, among some 200 killed and wounded in Russia’s Kursk region.
The United States said on Monday that it believed that North Korean troops had been killed in Kursk where Ukrainian forces are battling to hold an enclave they occupied in August.
Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to keep the presence of North Korean soldiers secret.
“While they were being trained, they were even forbidden to show their faces. The Russian military tried to delete any video evidence of their presence,” he said via his official Telegram on Monday.
“And now, after the battles with our guys, the Russians are also trying to... literally burn the faces of the dead North Korean soldiers,” the Ukrainian leader added, sharing a 30-second video as evidence.
At the video’s 24-second mark, a group of people can be seen burning what appears to be a corpse on a slope covered in snow.
“Russians try to conceal the faces of North Korean soldiers even after their death,” reads a subtitle of the video.
Radio Free Asia has not been able to verify the video.
“There is no reason for Koreans to fight and die for Putin. And even after their deaths, Russia will only mock them,” said Zelenskyy. “This insanity must be stopped.”
Neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have confirmed that North Korean soldiers are helping Russia in the war that Putin launched with his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A U.S. Pentagon spokesman said on Monday there were “indications” of North Koreans killed and wounded while South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said it was “verifying” information that was “likely to be true.”
The U.S. and South Korea estimate that more than 10,000 North Koreans have been sent to Russia to help it with its war against Ukraine.
They have said that the North Koreans have been fighting in Russia’s southwestern Kursk border region against Ukrainian forces who occupied parts of it in early August.
Sanctions against North Korean officials
South Korea announced on Tuesday that it will impose sanctions on three top North Korean military officers and one missile developer believed to have been deployed to Russia to support its war on Ukraine.
The sanctioned officials are: Kim Yong Bok, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, Sin Kum Chol, director of its operations bureau, Ri Pong-chun, an army general who’s allegedly heading the “Storm Corps” special troops deployed to Russia’s western war front lines, and Ri Song-jin, a missile developer believed to have been sent to the war-torn border regions of Russia.
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South Korea also imposed sanctions on seven individuals and 15 entities for participating in illegal military cooperation with Russia, violating multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the South Korean foreign ministry.
The sanctioned individuals and entities were also targeted for their roles in funding and supplying materials that support North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.
All seven individuals are Russian nationals suspected of involvement in arms deals with North Korea, including financing, providing military communication equipment, and transporting weapons.
Of the 15 sanctioned entities, the majority are Russian, with the exception of the Storm Corps and a bank located in South Ossetia, a Russia-backed breakaway region in Georgia.
The sanctions are set to take effect on Thursday.
South Korea’s announcement follows the imposition by the U.S. of sanctions on North Koreans involved in the Ukraine war. The U.S. list included Kim Yong Bok and Ri Chang Ho, along with 14 other individuals and entities.
Edited by RFA Staff.
