On 28 October 2024, NATO’s new Secretary General, Mark Rutte, claimed that North Korea is indirectly involved in the Ukraine conflict, potentially extending geopolitical tensions to the Indo-Pacific region and affecting countries like South Korea, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand—all non-NATO members.
Much of the Western media has reported on the involvement of North Korea in Ukraine, an allegation initially attributed to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
Following Rutte’s statement, Reuters claims that the Pentagon warned that any North Korean presence in the area would result in Washington lifting restrictions on Kiev’s use of long-range weapons deep within Russia.
Further complicating matters, the Zelensky regime asserts that North Korean troops are already in the region, while the Pentagon denies this. At the same time, Kiev says the North Korean troops are not in Ukraine but on Russian soil, in the Kursk region, raising questions about the actual implications.
Narrative debunked
Former U.S. Colonel Douglas Macgregor has questioned the narrative, suggesting it may have been fabricated to prolong the conflict.
According to Macgregor, purported photos of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine actually depict DPRK military personnel on routine exercises with Russian forces in Eastern Siberia, near North Korea’s border.
Colonel Macgregor:
”This has nothing to do with Ukraine, and there is no need or intention, under any circumstances, to send North Korean troops to fight in Ukraine.
This is another effort at trying to create the illusion that somehow Russia has been weakened. We have been down this road before.
The Russians are turning away people who are volunteering to fight in Ukraine. They have no manpower shortage and are healthy. It is the Ukrainians that have a manpower shortage and are losing air speed and altitude at every second.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Alleged North Korean Involvement in the Ukraine Conflict
Mark Rutte, 57, a Dutch politician and former Prime Minister, recently assumed the role of NATO Secretary General, succeeding Norwegian politician Jens Stoltenberg, who held the post from 2014 to 2024.
Sources
- Reuters: No new limits on Ukraine’s use of US arms if North Korea joins Russia’s fight, Pentagon says