[News Now] North Korea Sent Russia...A change in the earth's crust of the security landscape on the Korean Peninsula?

■ Host: Kim Sun-young Anchor
■ Starring: Moon Sung-mook, Director of the Unification Strategy Center of the Korea Institute for National Strategy

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsNOW] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Evidence is emerging that North Korea has dispatched soldiers to Russia. There is also an analysis that this dispatch could lead to tectonic changes in the security landscape of the Korean Peninsula. Let's take a look at it with Moon Sung-mook, director of the Unification Strategy Center of the Korea Institute for National Strategy. Welcome. President Zelensky of Ukraine came forward. There is now a series of evidence that it is certain that North Korea sent soldiers. And President Zelensky said, "If the North Korean military is skilled in modern warfare, it is harmful to everyone in the world," but now he has no choice but to be nervous, right?

[Moon Sung-mook]
Of course. President Zelensky has clear evidence. We're talking about specific evidence by saying that we've received a report from the intelligence authorities, but as you just saw on the screen, there's a lot of evidence coming out. Very specific details are coming out.

Some troops have already been deployed to the front line, six of whom have been killed in action. In addition, there are rumors that 18 of the North Korean troops who were deployed to the front line have deserters, and that Russian soldiers are making efforts to ferret out their personnel. In addition to that, aren't there videos of North Korean words coming out?

From President Zelensky's point of view, it's really desperate. If the North Korean military is deployed and the situation is tilted significantly, it can be a really unaffordable result, so as just shown on the screen, I asked for an invitation to NATO.
So this could speed up both NATO and Ukraine's accession to NATO. Then, for Putin, it is a very defeat. So, the volatility is growing considerably, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is now participating in illegal activities.

[Anchor]
The video you mentioned is the video of North Korean soldiers receiving Russian supplies, and if you look at it, you're saying that it's almost certain that they sent troops. Let's take a look at the video.

[Anchor]
a familiar North Korean language There's no country in the world that uses that term.

[Moon Sung-mook]
Of course. It's a Korean accent, but it's clearly a North Korean accent. It says SPRAVDI in the middle of the screen, and it's a video raised by the strategic communication center under the Ukrainian military, which means it's only been seven days since the video was shot. So, if you look over there, it's a scene where an Asian soldier receives a Russian uniform and wears it like this.

So, North Korea and Russia conspired with each other and put North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms to disguise them as if they were Russian soldiers, and I'm curious how they filmed this video. Anyway, I think the information power is great.

[Anchor]
I just showed you the video a while ago, and there are documents as well as videos. It's this document right now. It's a questionnaire. So you're asking me to write down the measurements to give you Russian supplies, right?

[Moon Sung-mook]
I think it was before I filmed the video.

[Anchor]
That's how they surveyed the size and handed it out?

[Moon Sung-mook]
It should be investigated and given out the appropriate hats, military hats, and uniforms to the appropriate soldiers.

[Anchor]
Can you show me the questionnaire again? It's coming out over there right now.

[Moon Sung-mook]
So, each in Russia. It's actually a food, but it says "gi."

[Anchor]
Is it usually like that in North Korea?

[Moon Sung-mook]
Maybe that's a bit creepy. I think the Russian side probably did this with the help of North Korea. Russia and Joseon. So if you look at it now, it's this size in Russia, but it's this size in North Korea, so I did this very kindly with the height, then the circumference, and so on, along with the size of the hat.

[Anchor]
They're giving me a summer hat.

[Moon Sung-mook]
I think you just saw the screen where if you write down the questionnaire to write down the dimensions of the body uniform and the military cap, you hand out the corresponding hats and military uniforms.

[Anchor]
So, actually, the video in North Korean is like that, but the country that uses Korean is also limited, so this is almost clear evidence of dispatch, right?

[Moon Sung-mook]
But other than this evidence, North Korea is actually silent right now. If you look at North Korea's actions, North Korea is not the kind of group that will stay still if such a situation occurs. If you look at the behavior so far. If it's not true, we will refute President Zelensky or because our National Intelligence Service reported this, and we will refute it by talking about things that we really can't say, but I think he acknowledges the undeniable fact from the quietness.

[Anchor]
a pile of evidence It's still coming out now, but please show us some graphics. Our National Intelligence Service also issued a press release regarding the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia, and I was also surprised to see it. AI said it found this, but it means 80% of it was the same, right?

[Moon Sung-mook]
The picture on the left side of the picture is from the Russian side. And the picture on the right was taken in North Korea last year when that person was accompanying Kim Jong-un. I got the photo with the cooperation of the Ukrainian intelligence authorities, and when I used it with AI technology and facial recognition technology, 80% of it was consistent. Then, the same person was sent to Russia now and provided Russia with missiles developed in North Korea, right? It's clear evidence that you're providing that technology support, and you can see it like this.

[Anchor]
I heard that the North Korean soldiers in that video are special forces and named Storm Corps. He looks quite young, but it's the first time in North Korea that he has sent troops like this, so I'm also curious about the public opinion in North Korea.

[Moon Sung-mook]
There is a possibility that it will just go viral because North Korea is probably not informing its residents. Because if the sons were dispatched, the parents would know that the sons went, and I think it would be spreading even if it was kept as confidential as possible. North Korea separates special forces into separate military types. We are the land, sea, and air force, but North Korea divides special forces into separate military types, and the storm troop you just mentioned refers to the 11th Corps. It's the 11th Army Corps of the Army Ground Forces, and it's a special warfare unit, but North Korean soldiers go to the military before they turn 20. You're young. As you can see on the screen, North Korea is showing off that.

North Korea's strategic tactics now are a combination of regular and non-regular warfare, and that's why 200,000 people have non-regular and special warfare units. It's very different from us. So, the 11th Corps, the so-called Storm Corps, which was the parent of the 8th Special Corps in the past. There are about eight brigades from four brigades, and since these personnel have been decided to be sent, Kim Jong-un has a lot of things he wants to gain, but I think it's a gamble. You can get what you want, but you can also get that fatal damage. For example, a significant number of people are killed when they are sent to the battlefield. Then, the Kim Jong-un era is the first time among the three hereditary regimes of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un.

[Anchor]
Wouldn't it be hard to hide that then?

[Moon Sung-mook]
Of course. If that happens, no matter how much North Koreans can't speak due to oppression and real threats, how can they keep their mouth shut when their children are dying? And is there a justification for this war? What's the reason? There is no justification, so in a way, there is a lot of agitation from the residents, but aren't these young men sent to North Korea's MZ generation? They're from the MZ generation. Isn't there a rumor that 18 people have defected from the military? It can be a great chance for them to find their freedom. If so, if a large number of people desert, Kim Jong-un could have a really fatal result. The fact that you can't get what you want and that can happen. We'll have to wait and see.

[Anchor]
From Kim Jong-un's point of view, dispatch was a very adventurous card, can you see it like this?

[Moon Sung-mook]
So, as he calculated, he really formed a blood alliance with Russia and Putin. Didn't Putin and Kim Jong-un meet last June, sign a treaty, and hold a press conference? If you look at it, Putin didn't say a word of alliance. However, Kim Jong-un has said ally four times. And he said he was the strongest ally since the Kim Il Sung era, and that he would absolutely support and follow Putin. In Kim Jong-un's mind, North Korean soldiers use this opportunity to bleed to form a blood alliance with Russia and make Putin debt to Kim Jong-un.

[Anchor]
If this happens, isn't it actually going to be a blood alliance?

[Moon Sung-mook]
That's how Kim Jong-un tries to get what he wants to get, but will the result be like that with Kim Jong-un's calculations? I think it is difficult to determine at the moment whether it will be the other way around.

[Anchor]
First of all, sending troops is not an easy big decision, so what's the first thing on Chairman Kim Jong-un's bill? What do you want the most?

[Moon Sung-mook]
So, I think the driving force behind the development of the Republic of Korea was the Korea-U.S. alliance, as Kim Jong-un looked at the Republic of Korea in his head. However, North Korea has only been with allies that are not cool. Now, I think that if we form an alliance with Russia, we will be able to see such a day. In the process of developing the Republic of Korea into today's Republic of Korea in the past and the Republic of Korea's Armed Forces becoming today's strong force, the dispatch of troops to Vietnam also played a very important role. I don't know if Kim Jong-un had any expectation in his head that if he sent troops to Russia like that, North Korea would become the same as today's Republic of Korea. So, if the Republic of Korea and the United States have formed the strongest alliance in the world and this is the basis for today's Republic of Korea, we hope that Kim Jong Un will have such an opportunity. And from Kim Jong-un's point of view, isn't military power the most inferior to South Korea?

Of course, it has economic power, but it has developed nuclear weapons to maintain its military superiority, but it lacks core technologies for ICBMs and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can strike the United States, such as re-entry technologies. Next, we have to hit an SLBM that can strike the United States, but there is no nuclear submarine. Next, I want to have an air force that can overwhelm the Republic of Korea, but I don't have that, and it costs a lot. But Russia has that. So, I don't know if there is such a calculation that if you get some from Putin, you can continue your economic and military needs, and then you can continue the fourth and fifth Kim Jong-un administrations. But no one can guarantee that it will be the cashier.

[Anchor]
What Putin is up to might be different. It could be different from

[Moon Sung-mook]
and Putin is not at his disposal. When Putin invaded Ukraine more than two years ago, in a week or so, he destroyed Ukraine and turned it into a satellite state he wanted to scold NATO and move further to prevent NATO from moving east, but it was the opposite. Rather, he was focused on the corner. It's been reduced to such a desperate, desperate situation where you have no choice but to reach out to Kim Jong-un. So will Putin be able to give the results that fit Kim Jong-un's calculation? I have a question about that.

[Anchor]
Anyway, if this happens now, then will Russia also participate in the war on the Korean Peninsula? Will this change the security landscape of the Korean Peninsula? There are a lot of these stories, so finally, please analyze how you predict that part.

[Moon Sung-mook]
So that's what I think. Institutionally, it's a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed last June. It's not an alliance treaty. It's so controversial. In any case, I think so under Article 4 of the Treaty. It was not officially proposed because Russia has not yet signed the ratification process, but if you look at Article 4 there, doesn't it mean that the other country will automatically intervene in the event of an invasion? But Russia was invaded. Kursk is occupied. That's why this condition was established. If a blood alliance is formed, then it is true that Russia has no choice but to help in the event of such a situation in North Korea in the future, but in fact, South Korea and the United States have never invaded North Korea.

It's not an invasion war. In that sense, I cannot guarantee whether it will be the kind of structure that Kim Jong-un wants. What we are concerned about right now is that Putin owes Kim Jong-un, and if Putin provides such important core technologies, spy satellite technologies that Kim Jong-un wants, it could pose a significant threat to the security of the Republic of Korea, so the president immediately convened a security council and said he would use all possible means through cooperation with related countries. So you warned Russia, didn't you? If that happens, Russia and North Korea should probably keep this in mind because they are issuing this warning that we will not provide weapons of destruction to Ukraine.

[Anchor]
In any case, North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia is now in the form of threatening global security, so there seem to be a lot of concerns.

Moon Sung-mook was the director of the Unification Strategy Center of the Korea National Strategic Research Institute. Thank you for talking with me today.

[Moon Sung-mook]
Thank you.