North Korea is third country to join Russia’s side of war amid possible transfer of DPRK troops to Ukraine

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“If we continue receiving technological support from our allies, the combined manpower of North Korea and Russia will create challenges, but nothing catastrophic. The real risk is that North Korea, acting as China’s proxy, might provoke a broader confrontation with the West, particularly involving South Korea. That could impact Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.'s support for Ukraine. There are a lot of factors at play. The first thing is to see how our Western allies respond,” Tymochko explained.

He noted that Putin had initially pinned his hopes on Iran, specifically with their supply of Shahed drones and missiles. But now, Iran is caught up in its conflict with Israel, which has the backing of both the U.S. and the UK.

“North Korea has a shared border with Russia, so troop movements would be easy. The threat is extremely serious. While North Korea's current military manpower won’t immediately change the course of the war, unless decisive or preventive measures are taken to make this alliance unprofitable for them, it could lead to very significant problems,” he added.

In his view, North Korea could become the third country to actively join Russia in the conflict.

“We're talking about Belarus, Russia, and North Korea. We already saw Belarusian soldiers switch their insignia to Russian during the early days of the invasion. That hasn't been forgotten,” Tymochko concluded.

• On October 12, the Washington Post reported that several thousand North Korean soldiers are undergoing training in Russia and could be deployed to Ukraine by the end of the year.
• On October 13, the Ukrainian partisan group SROK reported they had identified the presence of North Korean troops in the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk region.