MILITARY & STRATEGIC:
NORTH KOREA GETS INVOLVED

So, we have now seen video evidence of N. Korean troops collecting supplies and kit at a barracks somewhere along the Trans-Siberia railway. Their numbers are estimated to be 11-12,000 strong, so a Brigade worth at the minimum. At least 1,500 are estimated by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service to be crack special forces operatives, whose principle capabilities are infiltration techniques getting behind enemy lines and causing mayhem.
Let’s be clear about these men. They’re as good as dead. If they aren’t killed by the Ukrainians or shot by the Russians deserting, they will never be allowed back into the slave state for the simple reason they have seen the outside world. Even the concept of a few hundred ever returning and spreading the word of what they might have seen in Russia - that its nothing like what they’ve been taught their entire lives, will be too much for the DPRK régime.
North Korea is basically a feudal society. The regime acts more like a medieval monarchy than it does a communist dictatorship. Indeed it long strayed from communism, developing its own system of Juche. It translates as ‘self reliance’. You are responsible for everything - your survival is your problem. The Leader lays down the laws and you have to live within them.
Society is broken up into the three layers. The Leader, the Elite and the Hostiles - the name the elite refer to everyone beneath them as.
If you are a male born into a family in the elite, almost all of whom live in Pyongyang, say your father is a senior member of the security services, you will inherit a similar position. Anyone below your fathers rank will be considered subservient to you even if they outrank you.
The system of three generations is ingrained in society. Those generals you see in videos laden down with medals - they didn’t earn them. They will almost certainly be the medals earned by their fathers and grandfathers.
If you as member of the Hostiles, commit a crime, especially a political one, your parents as the generation above you, your children as the generation below you, and your brothers and sisters if you have them as your own generation, are all equally guilty and punished accordingly.

I’m not overly concerned with the arrival of these North Korean troops. The DPRK is in no position to keep sending troops to Russia. It seems to be leaving it to the Russians to outfit and equip them as it is. This is a token force to make a point. It tells the West that no matter what we have done to N.Korea they aren’t going away and they can have an impact. The whole tempo of N.Korean actions on the Peninsula has been about stirring up sentiment in the United States to get Trump re-elected. The same way China is acting up around Taiwan, trying to cause issues that might just swing that election one way rather than the other. They all think Trump is a walkover and that he’ll simply step back and let them get on with whatever they want to do. It isn’t about trade for China - its about Taiwan and reunification. For the North Koreans its about attention and getting treated like a normal country when its not. For Russia its anything to upset the West and win the war in Ukraine - and we all know which Presidential candidate is most likely to let Putin have his way.
Meanwhile this mighty alliance which includes Iran - a nation suddenly seeing how its erstwhile allies have vanished into the mist as a massive Israeli strike on the country could happen quite literally any hour now, sits increasingly worried that what its brought down on itself could be devastating and result in terminal civil unrest that upends the régime.
We should not over react to the what N.Korea is doing. If anything it simply hardens S.Korea’s resolve to aid Ukraine - if its arch enemy is attacking it, the south has every incentive to help neutralise it. Japan and S.