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North Korean soldiers sent to help Russia in Ukraine would be ‘cannon fodder’, the Pentagon said.
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The two countries have signed a new security treaty, and some Korean units appear to be heading to Ukraine.
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Russia is known for treating its soldiers as disposable soldiers and therefore has a high death toll.
North Korean troops sent to Ukraine to help in Russia’s war would become “cannon fodder,” the Pentagon said.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday: “I think if I were North Korea’s military personnel management, I would question my choices to send my troops as cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine. “
Ryder was responding to a question about North Korea possibly sending military engineering units to Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is occupied by Russia.
This was reported by South Korean TV Chosun, citing a South Korean government official and referred to by ReutersNorth Korea plans to send construction and engineering troops to occupied Ukraine next month for reconstruction work.
Earlier this month Russia and North Korea signed a pact whereby it is agreed to provide each other with military assistance if the other is attacked.
Countries including the US and Japan condemned the move, as did South Korea said it was considering sending weapons to Ukraine as a result. South Korea’s president called the pact a threat to his country’s security.
Ryder described North Korea possibly sending military forces to Russia as “certainly something to keep an eye on,” and alluded to the high number of Russian casualties during the war.
The British Ministry of Defense said in late May that the total number of killed or injured Russian soldiers since February 2022 amounted to approximately 500,000.
It also said the average daily number of Russian personnel casualties in May was more than 1,200.
Russia is known for treating its own troops as very disposable.
This includes: using ‘meat wave’ tacticswhere it sends waves of poorly trained and unsupported soldiers into Ukrainian positions in an attempt to overwhelm them.
A Russian soldier planning offensives said this month that he has to send men forward knowing they will likely die, but doesn’t tell them how low their chances of survival are.
“I can’t tell the guys, otherwise they wouldn’t fight hoping to win,” he said.
Read the original article Business insider