Reports of '500 North Korean soldiers killed' striking the gathering site of troops..."Tremendous level of wiretapping" [Y transcript]

■ Host: Um Ji-min Anchor
■ Starring: Yang Wook, a researcher at Asan Institute for Policy Studies,

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 10AM] when quoting.

◇ Anchor> The National Intelligence Service has officially confirmed for the first time the intelligence on the 'suspected death of 500 North Korean soldiers'. The range of North Korean troops seems to be expanding. Let's take a look at the current war in Ukraine. With Yang Wook, a researcher at Asan Institute for Policy Studies. As I said, the National Intelligence Service has officially confirmed the death of North Korean soldiers, but first of all, how much of the specific damage or injury was known?

◆ Yang-wook> First of all, there were reports that about 500 North Korean soldiers were killed. It seems to be such a claim that the storm shadow attack hit the troop gathering area, but this part has not been confirmed honestly. And there are a lot of such contents coming out through specific stories, such as Telegram channels, and especially if you look at the contents exchanged by pro-Russian affiliates, it should be seen as something that Russia actually acknowledges. In any case, when these things are put together, 18 people were killed and 33 injured in the storm shadow attack. One of the dead was a high-ranking Russian general. It also included the death of the deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, which is believed to be Lieutenant General Soluchak. Three North Korean soldiers were among the 33 injured. Two of them seem to be military officers, and at least one of them is a very high-ranking officer. In other words, it is presumed to be a general. This is where it is said that three people, Shin Geum-cheol, Kim Young-bok, and Lee Chang-ho, entered Russia, and among these three people, Shin Geum-cheol might have been injured.

◇Anchor> This is Shin Geum-cheol, the Major General of the People's Army, and what kind of person is this person?

◆ Yang-wook> First of all, not much has been known about Shin Geum-cheol, but when I put some information together, it is presumed that he is the director of the general staff's operations department. As you know, the General Staff corresponds to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in our military. If you say the chief of operations, wouldn't he be the director of operations? So basically, what the mission is is to plan and execute military operations, and it's a very important role in drawing the shape of the entire war.

◇ Anchor> Planning and conducting strategies.

◆ Yangwook> That's right. But in the end, why did this important person go? It appears that they were sent to learn the lessons of the war in Ukraine. So for example, isn't there a lot of interpretation of whether to send it or not? Since North Korea is conducting an enemy war, it will have to focus on a relatively larger part of it. In particular, probably starting with how to manage and operate the entire war, a very small level, that is, a comprehensive learning of various things, starting with the tactics of a small unit, but this number of people should be included. It's shown like this. So the area that was eventually attacked itself is known as the Marino area, which is known as the 12th attack. That's why I think he attacked the place where the telegraph command is. That's why I think these high-level deaths or injuries came out.

◇Anchor> If you look at the news now, it says that the scale of injuries is quite specific, 500 people, and it also says in detail about who was injured. It's intelligence during the war, but how can you figure this out?

◆ Yang-wook> As I said earlier, basically, there is a huge level of eavesdropping. It's the same about Ukraine, but it's also gathering a lot of information about Russia. This collection is not only about cell phone calls or telegrams, but also about eavesdropping information that we have, or public information. It's like a news report that says there have been some actions or movements, or it's like a group chat room for us. That's the Telegram channel, and I can tell you that I'm drawing a picture of information through conversations within the Telegram channel. I understand that the amount of information is huge, so it is understood that the information operation is carried out to collect important information while even receiving AI help.

Excerpted from
: Lee Mi-young, editor of the digital news team

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