Kim Jong Un plays loudly with nuclear weapons and alliance with Putin

After suffering heavy lows, North Korea plans to send more troops to Russia, expanding its military cooperation while accelerating ballistic missile tests

The South Korean army said on Friday it suspected that North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after North Korean soldiers fighting the Russian-Ucranian war suffering low heavy.

According to AP, South Korea’s joint staff has also evaluated, in a report distributed to journalists, that North Korea continues to be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House can improve Pyongyang’s prospects for high-level diplomacy with Washington, as he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong unity during his first term. Many experts believe that Kim probably considers that their evolving nuclear program and the growing military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin can give him more influence than during the 2018-19 domes with Trump.

North Korea has provided a large amount of artillery and other conventional weapons to Russia and last October sent about 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to the country, according to US intelligence information, South Korea and Ukraine. Seoul, Washington and others fear Russia in return to transfer to North Korea sophisticated weapons technologies that can improve its nuclear program.

North Korean soldiers are considered highly disciplined and well-trained, but the lack of combat experience and limited familiarity with the plains that make up most of the battlefields in the Russian-Ucranian war made them easy for drone attacks and artillery.

The South Korean intelligence agency said last week that it estimates that about 300 North Korean soldiers died and another 2,700 were injured. In early January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated the number of North Koreans killed or injured in 4,000, although US estimates were smaller, around 1,200.

South Korea’s joint staff said North Korea is accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia, without detailing how it came to this assessment.

The deepening of military ties between North Korea and Russia can encourage Kim in their negotiations with the US and South Korea. In a major political conference last month, Kim promised to implement the “hard” policy against the US. But many experts believe that Kim may eventually want to sit down to talk to Trump if he thinks the US president can make concessions.

Previous negotiations between the two collapsed after Trump rejected Kim’s offering to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a limited step of denuclearization, in exchange for ample relief of sanctions. Since then, Kim has dramatically increased the rhythm of weapon tests to expand his US -oriented nuclear missal arsenal and South Korea.

In South Korea, there are concerns that Trump can abandon the goal of complete North Korea denuclearization and focus on eliminating his long -range missile program, which represents a direct threat to the US, leaving his nuclear attack capabilities intact against South Korea.

During an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday, Trump called Kim a “intelligent guy” and “not a religious fanatic.” Asked if he would contact Kim again, Trump replied, “I will, yes.”

On Monday, Trump called North Korea “nuclear power” as he boasted from his personal ties with Kim. This has caused controversy in South Korea, as Washington, Seoul and its allies have long avoided describing North Korea as a nuclear state, concerned that this can be seen as an acceptance of its nuclear weapons search, in violation of resolutions of UN Security Council.

“I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him, ”Trump said during a press conference at the Oval Hall after his inauguration. “Now it is a nuclear power. But we got along. I think he’ll be happy to see that I’m coming back. ”

Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of Defense, said to reporters on Tuesday that efforts to achieve North Korean denuclearization should continue as a prerequisite for lasting peace not only in the Korean peninsula , but also in the world. The South Korean Foreign Ministry also said it will closely coordinate with the Trump administration to reach the denuclearization of North Korea.

North Korea did not respond to Trump’s comments. A state media report on Friday about the two-day parliamentary meeting in Pyongyang, widely accompanied, did not mention whether Kim attended the event, and the report did not mention the US, South Korea, Russia or other foreign policy issues .