The danger of the Pyongyang-Moscow axis is becoming clearer

The evidence of a deepening military axis between North Korea and Russia has been mounting in recent days, causing alarm from Kyiv to Seoul. In the latest development, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported on Friday that some 1,500 North Korean special forces had been sent already to the Russian Far East in preparation for deployment to the Ukrainian war front.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol convened an emergency security meeting, and his office stated that this represents “a significant security threat not only to our country but also to the international community.”

Pyongyang’s decision to dispatch armed forces to participate in Russia’s war efforts, following its massive shipments of arms and ammunition, flows from the security alliance sealed last June during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea.

More tantalizing are clues to what Moscow has agreed to provide Pyongyang in return. There, the evidence is less conclusive, but there are reasons to conclude that Russia has abandoned long-held commitments to nuclear non-proliferation and avoidance of nuclear use.

Even more troubling, these developments take place amidst growing tensions along the inter-Korean frontier, fueled by North Korea’s decision to formally discard the goal of peaceful reunification. Instead, in a visit to an army headquarters on October 17, Kim Jong-un told troops that any use of force against the South would constitute an act against a “hostile country,” not against “fellow countrymen.”

North Korean troop and weapons deployment

The NIS reports of North Korean troop deployment follow numerous reports from Ukraine of their presence, prompting statements from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about