North Korean troops expected to engage Ukrainians within days as allies flounder

Footage circulated online on Oct 18, 2024 shows North Korean troops training in Russia.
Footage circulated online on Oct 18, 2024 shows North Korean troops training in Russia.
EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says North Korean soldiers are expected to deploy in combat against Ukrainians in the coming days, while American Deputy UN Ambassador Robert Wood said 8,000 of Pyongyang’s soldiers are in the Kursk region, which Ukraine has partially occupied.

Blinken spoke after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yeol, and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun alongside US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, as Washington and Seoul attempt to coordinate a response to Pyongyang’s provocations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed deep disappointment in the thus-far anemic response from allies in an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS, saying Moscow and Pyongyang would press the envelope further. “If there is nothing — and I think that the reaction to this is nothing, it has been zero — then the number of North Korean troops on our border will be increased,” he said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had expressed hope of sending weapons and advisers directly to Ukraine, but he’s hemmed in by constitutional restrictions and political realities he can’t overcome, as GZERO previously reported.

“South Korea and the West are grasping at straws to generate a significant response because there is widespread alarm and recognition that we have entered uncharted waters,” said Eurasia Group’s Jeremy Chan. “But North Korea will continue to get away with this because there aren’t a whole lot of good options.”

With the US election just days away, and the opposition that controls the legislature in Seoul deeply opposed to taking steps that could anger North Korea, we’re watching for more troops, more missiles, and deepening Pyongyang-Moscow ties before anyone in Seoul, Washington, or Beijing pushes back hard.

More from GZERO Media

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Head of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring Yury Chikhanchin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on July 8, 2025.
Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

At first glance, Russia has coped well under the weight of Ukraine-related Western sanctions, but clouds are starting to circle on Moscow.

Riot police officers fire tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrators during anti-government protests dubbed “Saba Saba People’s March,” in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru, Kenya, on July 7, 2025.
REUTERS/Suleiman Mbatiah

Kenya’s president orders police to shoot at protesters, European nuclear powers expand umbrella, and US President Donald Trump goes after Brazil.

Hezbollah beat on their chests as a sign of mourning during a mass rally to mark Ashoura, commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, received a stunning proposal from the Lebanese government– a plan to disarm Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shia militia group that has dominated Lebanon’s politics and fought two major wars with Israel over the past 20 years.