IPSEs IN THE LAST 24H
  • Steve Witkoff
    Steve Witkoff “The meeting was positive, upbeat, constructive. Everybody was there to get to the right outcome.” 21 hours ago
  • Marco Rubio
    Marco Rubio “Ending the war in Ukraine could unlock the door for incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and, frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term.” 21 hours ago
  • Sergey Lavrov
    Sergey Lavrov “We explained today that the deployment of any troops, any armed forces from NATO countries but under other flags, either the European Union or national flags, changes nothing in this context. For us, of course, this is unacceptable.” 21 hours ago
  • Marco Rubio
    Marco Rubio “Russia and the United States have agreed to restore their embassies in Moscow and Washington to previous staffing levels to facilitate continued diplomatic engagement. We will need active work of diplomatic missions capable of functioning normally to be able to continue these contacts.” 21 hours ago
  • Jana Puglierin
    Jana Puglierin “February 2022 destroyed our faith in a collective security order with Russia and showed us the dark side of our fundamental dependence on Russia and China in critical areas. February 2025 shows us that the Americans no longer feel responsible for European security - and that their interests are fundamentally different from ours.” 21 hours ago
  • Volodymyr Zelenskiy
    Volodymyr Zelenskiy “Ukraine, Europe in a broad sense - and this includes the European Union, Turkiye, and the UK - should be involved in conversations and the development of the necessary security guarantees with America regarding the fate of our part of the world.” 21 hours ago
  • Mariia Mezentseva
    Mariia Mezentseva “It's not yet very clear how this negotiating table will look. But defence and justice must be at the forefront of any solution to end the war, and the US, Europe and Ukraine must be on board. It's not Russia who can dictate the rules because they are the invaders. It has to be absolutely [reversed].” 21 hours ago
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#North Korean troops

Page with all the IPSEs stored in the archive with the tag #North Korean troops linked to them.
The IPSEs are presented in chronological order based on when the IPSEs have been pronounced.

“Russia's use of North Korean troops has not had a major impact on the battlefield. It is not such a significant number of personnel. They use tactics that are primitive, linked, frankly speaking, more to the times of the Second World War.”

author
Spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence service
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“U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that if North Korean troops join the fight, they will become legitimate targets. The primary targets of the ATACMS missiles are likely to be North Korean infantry in Russia's Kursk region, who are poorly armed. Even without the Trump factor, the war in Ukraine seems to have shifted to a phase of regional skirmishes focused on limited territorial gains, with a major expansion of the conflict looking unlikely. As the situation seems to be moving into a so-called 'control mode' with Trump's return, South Korea's rationale in providing military aid to Ukraine in response to North Korean troops could lack clarity.”

author
Senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification
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“They're totally not ready. They have never engaged in major conflict. They don't have real battle experience. Pyongyang has adopted many of Russia's weapons systems offering some level of familiarity to North Korean troops. But the troops sent to Russia have also received more advanced technology. Those could all pose problems for North Korean troops, who don't really train with that equipment. Their training since arriving in Russia has likely been basic and in such a short time frame they cannot master the drones and the high-tech equipment. And that will leave the North Korean troops vulnerable to being easily defeated or killed.”

author
Former North Korean soldier - co-founder of the Washington-based North Korean Young Leaders Assembly
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“The troop deployment to Russia is merely part of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's ruthless business strategy aimed at profiting from the war. North Korean troops sent to Russia are not elite army members. Kim Jong-un would benefit more from dispatching inexperienced soldiers to the front lines, as they will likely become cannon fodder. The more North Koreans die on the battlefield, the more money he stands to gain from Russia. Kim understands the value of specially trained forces better than any other dictator. Kim once remarked that one elite soldier is equivalent to 100 average soldiers in terms of military capability. He emphasized that their role is crucial in times of war. Kim is aware that the roughly 200,000 members of North Korea's special forces are a key military asset he can rely on. Therefore, he would never want to trade them away. If North Korea were to send elite troops to Russia, he knows his country would face dire consequences in the event of a contingency.”

author
North Korean defector and journalist who operates two YouTube news channels
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“We call on Europe to realise that North Korean troops are now waging an aggressive war in Europe against a sovereign European state. This proves once again that while the West is afraid and hesitates, Russia is acting and going for escalation.”

author
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
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“We now assess that as many as 10,000 [North Korean troops] have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days. We expected that it was likely that they would enter into combat against Ukrainian forces. And if they did, they would be legitimate military targets.”

author
US State Department spokesperson
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“The U.S. should not expect China to manage North Korea. It is not the case that China is responsible to manage North Korea and the U.S. is responsible for managing South Korea. I hope the U.S. government could understand China's stance. The troop deployment is a matter between Russia and North Korea, while China's attitude remains unchanged that the conflict should not be escalated.”

author
Director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University
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“For China there's probably a combination of a little bit of exasperation, a little bit of panic and a little bit of they don't know what to do with regard to the current situation. It's unclear if Beijing was informed of Pyongyang's move [sending troops to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war] in advance. Beijing also could fret over Russia gaining more influence than China over North Korea.”

author
Korean chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
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“Beijing must find a balance between supporting Moscow and not angering the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping might for his own sake ignore the whole thing. Xi has built a personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he cannot see Putin fail. At the same time, Xi cannot anger the Europeans and Americans when his country's economy is struggling. So he's not going to say anything publicly about this [North Korean troops sent to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war].”

author
Senior fellow for the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on global issues at Georgetown University
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“I don't think that this (the transfer of North Korean troops) is such a decisive step that would lead to some kind of significant change of China's attitude toward North Korea or Russia.”

author
China researcher at the Prague-based Institute of International Affairs
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“Indications (are) that there's already a small number (of North Korean troops) that are actually in the Kursk Oblast, with a couple thousand more that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently. The rest at this time, of course, (are) training out in the east, but (we) fully expect that they'll move in that direction at some point. We are concerned that they do intend to employ these forces in combat against Ukrainians or at least support combat operations against the Ukrainians in the Kursk region. As of right now, it remains to be seen exactly how the Russians and the North Koreans will employ these forces.”

author
Pentagon spokesperson - Military officer and United States Air Force brigadier general
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“I wonder if [seeing] North Korean troops on the soil of Ukraine will change the calculus. Already we've seen Iranian weapons ending up in both Ukraine and the Middle East. What if it's a proxy war in Ukraine - and Russia is a proxy, a Chinese proxy.”

author
Estonia’s ambassador to the UK
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“Indeed, North Korea is now a full-fledged participant in the Ukraine war rather than merely supporting Russia by supplying artillery shells without any direct involvement in the conflict. However, this might not change Moscow's overall strategy in the war. Not least given how the North Koreans, it seems, will be organised in their own battalions and have their own translators. What is concerning is whether, in return for the dispatch of North Korean troops, Russia will provide North Korea with any military technology which North Korea could use in any provocations against South Korea.”

author
Lecturer in international relations at the University of Oxford
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“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region. The deployment of North Korean troops represents one - a significant escalation in the DPRK case ongoing involvement in Russia's illegal war. Two - yet another breach of a UN Security Council resolutions. And three - a dangerous expansion of Russia's war. NATO calls on Russia and the DPRK to cease these actions immediately. The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security.”

author
Secretary General of NATO
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“This [presence of North Korean troops] is a huge threat of further escalation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. There is a big risk of it growing out of its current scale and borders.”

author
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
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“Do you need North Korean troops to be deployed in Europe for combat operations in Ukraine? Really? And why does Russia need it? Maybe because, to be honest, the Russian potential is exhausted? According to estimates, Russian losses amount to 600,000 killed, wounded, and missing. These numbers are already approaching World War II levels in the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa after 1941.”

author
United States Representative (Democratic party) from Virginia - Acting president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
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“Public reports indicate that the number of North Korean troops could reach 10,000 and are currently stationed in the Eastern Military District of the Russian Federation. There are also reports of a 3,000-man unit based on an airborne assault brigade manned by North Koreans, which is likely to operate in the Kursk or Bryansk oblasts in the future. At the same time, North Korea's possible deployment of such forces, 3,000 or 10,000 people, to the Ukrainian front will not bring any significant changes on the battlefield. However, if it continues for a longer period, it could play a significant role in future battles. Russia's provision of military aid gives the leadership of North Korea and Iran the opportunity to use it to their advantage. This allows Iran and North Korea to demand exclusive security guarantees or technological information from Russia that has remained unavailable until now and which these countries can use in the future. Also, the military personnel participating in the fighting in Ukraine or the Russian Federation will gain military experience that they can use against their neighbours in their region.”

author
Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre
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