North Korea is restoring its Chilly Struggle-era comradeship with Russia by taking care of Russian troopers wounded within the warfare in opposition to Ukraine, in addition to internet hosting Russian youngsters who misplaced dad and mom within the preventing, in response to Moscow’s ambassador to Pyongyang.
The presence of a whole lot of wounded Russian troops, in addition to an unspecified variety of Russian warfare orphans, in North Korea was revealed by Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, in an interview printed on Sunday by the state-run information outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Mr. Matsegora made the revelation, which couldn’t be independently corroborated, whereas emphasizing the pleasant ties between Russia and North Korea. Additionally it is notable as one of many first public admissions by both aspect of North Korea’s sensible assist for its ally’s warfare effort. The bilateral relations have deepened rapidly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years in the past, and North Korean troops have just lately began preventing alongside the Russian forces.
North Korea has suffered thousands of casualties within the warfare. Nevertheless it has additionally been taking good care of injured Russian troopers, in response to Mr. Matsegora.
“One of many clear examples of our brotherly ties is the rehabilitation of a whole lot of troopers wounded within the particular army operation at Korean sanitariums and clinics,” the envoy stated, referring to the warfare in opposition to Ukraine.
Final yr, North Korea additionally acquired Russian youngsters whose fathers died on the battlefield, housing them within the Songdowon youngsters’s recreation heart in Wonsan, on the east coast of North Korea, he stated. The North Koreans have been taking care of the Russian troopers and youngsters freed from cost, he stated. The Russian envoy provided no particulars concerning the youngsters, together with how lengthy they deliberate to remain in North Korea.
“After we provided our pals to cowl not less than a few of these bills, they have been genuinely offended and requested us not to do that ever once more,” he stated. The Songdowon heart was initially constructed as a camp for overseas youngsters, a part of North Korea’s worldwide propaganda efforts.
Though the concept of Russian troops being rehabilitated in North Korea, one of many poorest and most remoted nations on this planet, might sound uncommon, communist nations had a protracted custom of constructing solidarity by taking care of one another’s wounded troopers, orphans and widows throughout warfare instances, stated Kim Deog Younger, a documentary filmmaker.
Mr. Kim is the director of “Kim Il Sung’s Children,” a documentary about hundreds of warfare orphans that North Korea despatched to nations like Poland, Hungary and East Germany in the course of the 1950-53 Korean Struggle earlier than bringing them residence in 1956.
“Kim Jong-un is rebuilding the previous custom of solidarity as he sees the emergence of a new Cold War,” Mr. Kim stated.
From Mr. Matsegora’s interview, it was unclear when the wounded troopers from Russia arrived within the North or whether or not they and the Russian orphans have been nonetheless there. However in June final yr, the South Korean cable channel TV Chosun reported that North Korea was treating wounded Russian troopers in Wonsan earlier than it started sending its troops to Russia later that yr.
When President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia visited North Korea to restore a Cold War-era mutual defense treaty with its chief, Kim Jong-un, in June final yr, he had deliberate to journey to Wonsan to satisfy the Russian troopers, TV Chosun reported. However the deliberate go to to Wonsan was canceled when Mr. Putin’s arrival in North Korea was delayed, it added.
It additionally isn’t clear what sort of medical care the Russian troopers have been receiving in North Korea.
North Korea’s public well being system collapsed within the wake of a famine of the Nineteen Nineties when docs have been pressured to make use of beer bottles to assemble intravenous techniques, in response to defectors. The nation nonetheless suffers an acute scarcity of drugs. However Wonsan is among the higher developed areas within the nation. Kim Jong-un has been constructing a seaside resort advanced there, hoping to draw overseas vacationers.
In a report printed on Monday, the Washington-based Institute for the Examine of Struggle solid some doubt on the report that Russia was letting its wounded troops recuperate in North Korea.
“The Russian army command has reportedly been sending wounded personnel again into assault teams with out remedy, demonstrating a common disregard for troopers’ well being,” it stated. Such brutal techniques have been “calling into query official Russian claims to be sending Russian troopers overseas for remedy, significantly to North Korea,” it stated.
However the institute added that “the arrival of combat-experienced Russian troopers, significantly in the event that they embody officers or noncommissioned officers, to North Korea might enable the Russian army to work with North Korean forces and disseminate classes from the warfare in Ukraine whereas ostensibly recuperating.”
If confirmed, the recuperation of Russian troops in North Korea is the most recent instance of deepening ties between the 2 nations.
North Korea has despatched about 11,000 troopers to Russia, in addition to massive shipments of artillery shells, rockets and missiles, in response to United States, South Korean and Ukrainian officers. In return, Russia has been offering North Korea with oil, meals and assist in upgrading weapons, South Korean officers stated. Russia can also be accepting extra North Korean development staff, a key supply of money for Mr. Kim’s regime, they stated.
North Korea’s intervention got here with a heavy price, as 4,000 of its troops have been killed or injured in fight, in response to Ukrainian and Western intelligence estimates. However South Korean intelligence officers have stated that regardless of the heavy loss, North Korea might ship extra troops to Russia.
“Our military and folks will invariably assist and encourage the simply reason for the Russian military and folks to defend their sovereignty, safety and territorial integrity,” Mr. Kim stated in a speech on Saturday, in response to state media.
Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed reporting.
