North Korea severs all road and rail links to South Korea
On Tuesday, South Korean military sources indicated that North Korea has been seen building what appears to be a nuclear-powered submarine, which Kim has repeatedly declared as a long-term ambition. In recent days, Kim has also overseen artillery drills simulating an attack on an enemy island, reported NK News. The military exercise stoked increasing concern that Pyongyang may attempt to change its definition of the maritime boundary between North and South islands off the west coast of the Peninsula, raising the possibility of a clash.
Deepening relations between North Korea and Russia have also alarmed the West. Kim described Vladimir Putin as his "closest comrade" this week in a message to mark the Russian president's 72nd birthday and praised ties between their two countries as "invincible and eternal." In the past year, the two leaders have pledged to strengthen their military cooperation and to help each other in the event of "aggression" against either country.
North Koreans 'fighting in Ukraine'
Pyongyang has also been accused of providing Moscow with millions of artillery shells[1], as well as ballistic missiles, to prop up its war efforts against Ukraine - reportedly in exchange for economic and technological assistance with its own internationally sanctioned weapons programme.
On Tuesday, Kim Yong-hyun, the South Korean defence minister, told the country's parliament that North Korea was probably also sending its soldiers to fight and die in Ukraine. "As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely," he said. "The relations between Russia and North Korea are evolving to be almost as close as a military alliance."
Six North Korean soldiers were killed in early October on the Russian front line near the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian media reported.
References
- ^ providing Moscow with millions of artillery shells (www.telegraph.co.uk)