Hermit kingdoms usually keep themselves to themselves, but now, North Korea is reinventing the moniker by which it has long been known. The country may have the world’s fourth largest military, numbering nearly 1.5 million – out of a population of 26 million – but when the first tanks invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, few observers would have anticipated North Korea’s actual involvement in the ensuing war. It is not only Ukrainian intelligence reports which, this week, raised the possibility that over 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to aid Russia’s war effort. Only a few hours ago, South Korea’s intelligence agency has confirmed this grim reality – troops have now arrived.

Moscow will do all it can to prolong its now-global war

While this week’s early reports from Ukraine were unconfirmed by the United States and South Korea, it was only a matter of time before that speculation would become truth. Over the past year, as Putin’s reliance upon millions of rounds of far-from-high-quality North Korean 122mm and 152mm artillery shells has grown, North Korea has also broadened what it has supplied its Cold War patron. Beyond artillery shells, Pyongyang soon provided its most infamous weapon to Russia, ballistic missiles,........

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