A few years ago, it would have sounded fantastical to suggest that massed North Korean soldiers would fight on a European battlefield — as a Ukrainian commander noted last month. Yet about 10,000 are thought to be fighting for Moscow, and on Tuesday a US official reported that “several hundred” had died in Russia’s Kursk region.
North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world, with more than 1.25 million personnel in a country of just 26 million. Despite its extraordinary nuclear and missile achievements, much of its vast stockpile of weapons is thought to be out of date — although that has not stopped it shipping as much as US$5.5 billion of arms and ammunition to Russia. The military has not engaged in large-scale combat since the end of the Korean War in 1953. At home, soldiers spend significant time trying to acquire food or basic supplies, including fuel.
However, those sent to Ukraine are thought to include elite troops trained in infiltration, sabotage and assassination missions — certainly more proficient than raw Russian conscripts, although language and cultural differences might pose problems. Moscow is likely to consider North Koreans even more expendable than its own fighters, since they carry no domestic political cost. However, the calculation is a little different for North Korea. The death toll would not be reported by state media there. Few families would dare risk complaining. Given the desperate poverty, any financial compensation and status improvement could transform the lives of those bereaved.
The wages for those still fighting (US$2,000 per soldier per month, South Korean intelligence believes) would almost all be claimed by the regime, which is also welcoming sorely needed oil and grain supplies. The news of the deal with Moscow sparked fears of significant technology transfer, and that remains the greatest concern. However, North Korea might well regard the presence of troops, and their apparent involvement in fighting, as a reward rather than a cost — offering its military experience in combat and more modern weaponry. South Korean officials believe they are testing North Korean missiles against Western arms. All this raises the prospect of North Koreans fighting in more global conflicts and heightens fears of greater instability in Asia.
China would not be thrilled. It already has a tense relationship with the country it has long propped up. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed North Korea increased bargaining power with its patron. Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defence and cooperation treaty this summer, drawn together not only by immediate need, but also their underlying belief that the US is linking NATO and east Asian alliances. This is in turn pushing South Korea closer to NATO and Japan, though Seoul’s political crisis complicates matters.
Another concern for North Korea should perhaps be that thousands of its fighters see a way of life that — even in Kursk, or devastated areas of Ukraine — might look startlingly comfortable compared with dire conditions back home. Ukrainian sources have claimed that some North Koreans have already deserted. Special forces would enjoy better-than-average living conditions and would have been vetted for political reliability. However, thousands of soldiers are likely to return home and discuss what they have seen, if only with their very nearest and dearest, in a system that has long been reliant on isolating as well as terrorizing its population.
Concert ticket scalping is increasingly severe. From Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau (劉德華) to Japanese-American pop star Hikaru Utada, tickets for superstars’ concerts become hot commodities the moment they go on sale. However, prices are often artificially inflated by scalpers, harming fans and the market. To address the issue, the Ministry of Culture has joined hands with local governments to implement real-name registration for popular concerts in large venues with a capacity of more than 10,000 people, to prevent scalping and protect the interests of consumers. The policy is not only a direct response to the market chaos, but
After nine days of holidays for the Lunar New Year, government agencies and companies are to reopen for operations today, including the Legislative Yuan. Many civic groups are expected to submit their recall petitions this week, aimed at removing many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers from their seats. Since December last year, the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed three controversial bills to paralyze the Constitutional Court, alter budgetary allocations and make recalling elected officials more difficult by raising the threshold. The amendments aroused public concern and discontent, sparking calls to recall KMT legislators. After KMT and TPP legislators again
When viewing Taiwan’s political chaos, I often think of several lines from Incantation, a poem by the winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature, Czeslaw Milosz: “Beautiful and very young are Philo-Sophia, and poetry, her ally in the service of the good... Their friendship will be glorious, their time has no limit, their enemies have delivered themselves to destruction.” Milosz wrote Incantation when he was a professor of Slavic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He firmly believed that Poland would rise again under a restored democracy and liberal order. As one of several self-exiled or expelled poets from
In competitive sports, the narrative surrounding transgender athletes is often clouded by misconceptions and prejudices. Critics sometimes accuse transgender athletes of “gaming the system” to gain an unfair advantage, perpetuating the stereotype that their participation undermines the integrity of competition. However, this perspective not only ignores the rigorous efforts transgender athletes invest to meet eligibility standards, but also devalues their personal and athletic achievements. Understanding the gap between these stereotypes and the reality of individual efforts requires a deeper examination of societal bias and the challenges transgender athletes face. One of the most pervasive arguments against the inclusion of transgender athletes
RSS