North Korean Deployment in Ukraine War Raises Fresh Questions

“If they’re a cobelligerent, their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday, adding that he was “seeing evidence that there are North Korean troops that have gone to Russia”.

This marks the first confirmation of DPRK troops in Russia, ostensibly a deployment of about half of a corps.

This also marks the first time since the Cold War that Asian troops will be active in a European war zone on this scale. The last such instance was the conflict in Czechoslovakia in 1968, which was crushed by Soviet troops with a significant Central Asian contingent. 

Austin, however, left a few things unsaid. 

A decent reporter should immediately ask Austin how he defines “cobelligerence” in this context. Is providing targeting coordinates, for example, “cobelligerence”? By that logic, NATO has been a cobelligerent for a long time, as per the Russian president’s recent allusion. 

Additionally, if a corps-level deployment of DPRK troops in Europe, either as auxiliaries or as active cobelligerents, does not compel Europeans to ramp up production, budget, or conscription, what does that say about European “revealed preferences”? 

Might it be that they see that it won’t change the balance of power significantly, given that they know the real limitation to Vladimir Putin’s power, or that they are so tired of the conflict that they want Ukraine to be forced to negotiate? If that’s the case, shouldn’t Washington simply cut aid and come back from the brink of a total great power war? 

Otherwise we end up being more Catholic than the pope—that is, a more zealous actor in a war in Europe than most Europeans.

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