[News UP] Rumors of dispatch of troops to North Korea...The impact on the international community is...

■ Host: Cho Jin-hyuk Anchor
■ Telephone connection: Former Russian-Ukrainian Ambassador Park Roh-byeok

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[Anchor]
The news that North Korea sent a large number of troops for the Russian military and even set up a special force targeting the war in Ukraine has been reported by foreign media every day. If the dispatch of troops to a third country is certain, the impact on the international community is expected to increase. Let me point out this with former Ambassador Park Roh-byeok, who served as ambassadors in both Russia and Ukraine. Is the ambassador here?

[No wall]
How are you?

[Anchor]
Reports continue to emerge from Ukraine that the North Korean military has sent troops to support Russia. Ukraine is said to have been confirmed through intelligence agencies. First of all, how did you see this news?First of all, there is a possibility, but since this problem is a very serious problem, we are checking the facts through related intelligence agencies, so I think we need to check the facts. Because first of all, President Zelensky of Ukraine made this public statement yesterday through his own National Assembly. So thousands of North Korean troops are training in Russia's Far East, and according to Ukraine, there is a possibility that they will be deployed to the front line at the end of this year, but there are two reasons. First, didn't Russia and North Korea sign a mutual aid treaty equivalent to a military alliance last June?

Therefore, according to the treaty, if one side invades force, they provide military or support. In addition, as Russia's war is now prolonged, Russia is looking for a manpower that can replace the lack of mobilization as the number of deaths and casualties is now close to half a million, which seems to be a possibility depending on this situation.

[Anchor]
You said you need to check the facts, but even specific numbers are mentioned. At first, there were reports that a 3,000-member special force was organized around local media in Ukraine, but this time, President Zelensky himself mentioned up to 10,000 and mentioned it in Congress. What do you think about credibility?

[No wall]
Again, I think we need to check additionally here as well. Because I think it has been confirmed that many North Korean workers and several North Koreans have arrived in Russia. In particular, there is a military base in the Usurisk area north of Vladivostok. It's about whether some of them have been put in there, and we'll have to see if the number will reach 10,000. Because it's not easy to integrate into various systems, such as where to deploy Russian troops or language problems. However, since Chairman Kim Jong-un promised full war-related support to President Putin, there is a good possibility of providing manpower beyond just such weapons support, so it is a matter of the size of the 10,000 people in the future, but the focus will be on how to interact with each other.

[Anchor]
First of all, our National Intelligence Service has also entered the confirmation process with the Ukrainian authorities in mind of the possibility that it is true, but if this is true, what kind of diplomatic repercussions are expected?

[No wall]
First of all, under the premise that it is necessary to confirm whether it is true at the level of the vice foreign minister of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, he has strengthened diplomatic cooperation and expressed concerns about warning. In the future, there is a possibility that the UN Security Council issue and various international responses will be needed, and even at the NATO level, it will develop into such a complex and new internal problem. So the Russian side must also be thinking about this part, but I think we need to check more about how it will come out.

[Anchor]
Since you said the Russian side, I'll ask you a question first. The Russian Foreign Ministry is neither denying nor affirming it, so why do you think it is taking such an ambiguous attitude now?

[No wall]
Russia is saying that just because Lavrov said that the North Korean nuclear issue is a closed issue for Russia, there are no restrictions on the issue of receiving aid from North Korea. However, since Russia is a member of the Security Council or led by the NPT, the international status that comes from doing something that violates the Security Council sanctions resolution on these issues will fall. So, not just trying to get people from the front and win this problem, but Russia's future will be in a position to become an isolated country in the international community that is not completely trusted, rather than becoming an influential power.

[Anchor]
If this is true, Russia is also in a crisis that could be isolated internationally, he said. From Ukraine's point of view, it seems to be trying to spread the theory of North Korea's participation in the war. Together with China and Iran, they accuse North Korea of being a coalition of criminals. Should I say that I aim to draw support from the West by highlighting the so-called axis of evil?

[No wall]
It's hard to say that it's completely irrelevant. Because President Zelensky was in New York last September, on his way to the United Nations General Assembly, he delivered a victory plan this year, a kind of blackout next year, and how he would lead to postwar security. But under the plan, we tried to get Ukraine into NATO, to make sure that we had security guarantees, to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons, and some of them, we had weapons support.Ma didn't have the full response of President Biden. Therefore, if the issue of North Korean military input is that the troops of a third country are supported in the future, the nature of the war in Ukraine will change. So, depending on the results of the U.S. presidential election, whether it is Ukraine's victory plan or the war as a whole, this trend of North Korean military movements over the next month will be a very important watershed.

[Anchor]
North Korea recently blew up the inter-Korean road and just happened to report it today. Can you say that the background of this behavior is the close ties with Russia, including the recent dispatch of troops?

[No wall]
That's right. Through a kind of Russia-North Korea relationship, North Korea seems to be very determined to make such a breakthrough to the extent that it offsets various advantages gained through inter-Korean exchanges. So, I'm going too far right now, but can I get it all through the relationship between Russia and North Korea? Depending on Russia's difficult situation, the future situation of the war, and the response of the international community, it would be difficult to say that this is necessarily a breakthrough.

[Anchor]
It seems to be true that North Korea and Russia are strengthening their close ties. Please also point out how this change will affect the defense posture of the Korean Peninsula.

[No wall]
On the Korean Peninsula, there has been some balance in security, and this is the part that is feared to lead to an imbalance. The North Korean military has not had any actual experience since the Korean War, but if it is directly deployed to the Ukraine war, it can cause significant security problems if it can be a practical practice like practicing war, checking the performance of missiles they have provided, and Russia's support for strengthening conventional power. So, I think we should do our best to prevent this from happening by using our capabilities while looking at our defense and foreign security capabilities from various angles.

[Anchor]
We need to keep a close eye on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and we will summarize it like this. I was with former Ambassador Park No-byeok. Thank you.