Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia?

Published

6 months ago

October 25, 2024

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While North Korea has been supplying weapons to Russia for some time, the arrival of troops is a major escalation in its involvement in the war of Ukraine.

The first official evidence of large numbers of North Korean troops entering Russia was provided by the South Korean government, who last week published a press release outlining the increasingly close military cooperation between the two states.

According to the press release, an initial contingent of 1,500 North Korean special forces troops were transported on Russian naval ships to the port city of Vladivostok.

The South Koreans provided two high-resolution satellite images showing what they say are these troops in two sites in Russia.

The first shows a crowd of what the South Korean government estimates is 400 people assembled in an open space within a Russian military site close to the town of Ussuriysk, 98 kilometres north of Vladivostok.

The second image shows a smaller number of people, which the South Korean government state are around 250 North Korean soldiers.

This image was captured further north than the first. It shows an area that appears to be a military site close to the city of Khabarovsk in the Russian far east.

Footage circulating online

Amid reports of North Koreans entering Russia, several videos circulated widely.

While Sky News cannot confirm they show North Korean troops, one shows a group of soldiers of east Asian appearance. The person filming the video states they are North Korean, referring to them as ‘allies’.

This video has been geolocated by Sky News to the town of Sergeyevka in the Russian far east.

A second video filmed nearby shows a group of soldiers training in a field at the same site.

Filmed from over a wall, the footage is too grainy to allow the soldiers to be identified visually, however, many have claimed it shows North Korean troops.

A third video, released by the Ukrainian government, shows troops being equipped. While it is not possible to geolocate this footage, the presence of boxes marked in Russian has been cited as evidence this shows North Korean troops in Russia.

What satellite images can tell us

While currently available videos do not tell a full story, more can be learned from satellite imagery.

An image captured by Maxar of the site in Sergeyevka shows the sudden appearance of trenches on the grounds of the base in early October.

Later in the month, equipment can be seen assembled in an area in the south of the site, showing it has remained in use. This coincides with the reported arrival of troops in the area and the appearance of the videos, and fits with reports that the North Koreans are training in the area.

Available satellite imagery appears to show that a nearby training site in Lifarevka is also currently in use.

A comparison of low and high-resolution imagery captured over the month of October shows several huts appear to have been renovated at the site.

Training trenches and signs of activity can be seen in high-resolution images captured on 24 October.

Fighting in the Ukrainian frontlines often involves the use of trenches resembling those seen at both sites.

A North Korean flag appears on the frontline

Amid reports of North Korean troops being prepared for fighting in Ukraine, an image showing the North Korean flag next to that of Russia went viral.

Sky News has geolocated this to a former mining facility between the towns of Hirnyk and Tsukuryn in eastern Ukraine.

The site sits close to the frontline, with Tsukuryn being captured by the Russians in early October.

While the presence of the North Korean flag does not necessarily signal their arrival in Ukraine, it does suggest that frontline Russian forces are aware of North Korea’s increasing involvement in the conflict.

A deepening relationship could alarm Beijing

Nicole Johnston

Asia correspondent

@nicole_reporter

A deepening relationship between North Korea and Russia will also deepen China’s growing sense of unease about how close these two countries are becoming.

If thousands of North Korean troops head to Russia and on to the battlefield in Ukraine the conflict widens, drawing in an unstable and unpredictable partner in North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un.

China’s President Xi Jinping does not like an uncertain outcome.

This deployment has all the hallmarks of one.

If North Koreans are killed in war, pictures of dead soldiers could lead to impulsive action from Kim.

South Korea is seriously alarmed. But there’s little it can do about it. The worry is South Korea may be tempted to get more directly involved in the war on behalf of the enemy of their enemy – Ukraine.

The Korean Peninsula needs stability right now, the atmosphere has been highly charged all year.

When Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with a mutual defence clause in Pyongyang in June, it was unclear what this would mean on the ground.

Now we know. It could mean boots on the ground.

China shares its border with both Russia and North Korea.

If these two nuclear armed countries start fighting alongside each other, President Xi has every reason to be alarmed.

Weapon deliveries

North Korean support for the Russian war effort is not a new phenomenon.

In October 2023, the White House released imagery showing a Russian ship collecting containers of what the Americans claim were weapons from the North Korean port of Rason.

Prior to this time, the port at Rason had largely been empty. Sky News found there was little activity at its piers until the late summer, after which an increasing number of ships were visible throughout the autumn and winter.

Between late August and mid-February, Sky News recorded 34 days during which ships were visible at Rason’s once-empty piers.

While it is not publicly known how much weaponry has been provided by North Korea, the White House alleged in February that 10,000 containers of ammunition and other military materials had been sent since September 2023.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

World

Inside a NATO base in Poland – as residents bordering Russia say ‘scare tactic’ is needed

Published

3 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Inside a NATO base in Poland - as residents bordering Russia say 'scare tactic' is needed

Along the thin strip of beach and woodland known as the Vistula Spit which marks the northernmost demarcation between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, there is not much in the way of a border.

Just some torn wire fencing and a few rotten posts which seem to stagger drunkenly into the shallows of the Baltic Sea.

Beneath a sign barring entry, we find a couple of empty bottles of Russian cognac and vodka.

It doesn’t feel like the edge of NATO territory.

“I don’t see much protection. It’s not good,” says Krzysztof from Katowice, who has come to inspect the border himself.

“We have to have some kind of scare tactic, something to show that we are trying to strengthen our army,” says Grzegorz, who lives nearby.

“At the same time I think I would not base the defence of our country solely on our army. I am convinced that Europe or America, if anything were to happen, will help us 100%.”

Poland is investing massively in its defence, with military spending set to hit 4.7% of GDP in 2025, more than any other NATO country.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said he will introduce voluntary military training for men of any age, and women too should they wish, so the army has a competent reserve force in the event of war.

He is investing $2.5bn in stronger border fortifications between Russia and Belarus, a project called East Shield which will include anti-tank obstacles, bunkers and potentially minefields too.

Along with its Baltic neighbours, Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa convention against the use of land mines. It hasn’t committed to using them, but it wants to have that option.

We’ve been granted access to one of the cornerstones of Polish, and European defence, which is a couple of hours drive from the Vistula spit at the Redowicze military base.

Aegis Ashore Poland, together with its sister site in Romania, are the land-based arms of NATO’s missile defence shield over Europe, which is run by the US navy.

They are symbols of the US commitment to NATO and to the protection of Europe.

And despite changes at the top of the Pentagon it is “business as usual”, says Captain Michael Dwan who oversees air and missile defence within the US Sixth Fleet.

“Our mission to work with NATO forces has been unchanged. And so our commitment from the United States perspective and what capability we bring to ballistic missile defence and the defence of NATO is championed here in Poland.”

As far as Russia is concerned, NATO’s two missile defence bases in Romania and Poland represent a NATO threat on their doorstep and are therefore a “priority target for potential neutralisation”, per Russia’s foreign ministry.

NATO says the installations are purely defensive and their SM-3 interceptor missiles are not armed and are not intended to carry warheads. Russia counters they could easily be adapted to threaten Russia.

Not the case, Captain Dwan says.

“It’s not a matter of moving offensive weapons here into the facility, the hardware and the infrastructure is simply not installed.

“It would take months or years to change the mission of this site and a significant amount of money and capability and design.”

With so much marked “secret” on the site, it seems amazing to be granted the access.

But for NATO, transparency is part of deterrence. They want potential adversaries to know how sophisticated their radar and interception systems are.

They know that if they carried warheads on site, that would make them a target so they don’t.

Deterrence also depends on whether potential adversaries believe in the US’s commitment to NATO and to Europe’s defence.

On an operational level, as far as the troops are concerned, that commitment may still be iron-clad.

But as far as its commander-in-chief goes, there is still – as with so much around Donald Trump’s presidency – a great deal of uncertainty.

In the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon President Trump suggested he might bundle a potential US troop drawdown in Europe together with the issue of EU trade and tariffs.

“Nice to wrap it up in one package,” he said, “it’s nice and clean”.

Probably not the way Europe sees it, not with a resurgent Russia on their doorstep, economic tailwinds breeding animosity and the notion of Pax Americana crumbling at their feet.

World

Asianmarkets bounce back after Trump pauses higher tariffs for most countries – despite increasing those on China to 125%

Published

9 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Asianmarkets bounce back after Trump pauses higher tariffs for most countries - despite increasing those on China to 125%

Asian markets have reacted positively after Donald Trump paused his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on most of America’s trading partners for 90 days, despite the US president increasing those on China to 125%.

There have been fears of a global recession and stock markets around the world had plummeted after Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday 2 April.

However, Japan’s Nikkei share average was up 8.2% by 3.50am BST, while the broader Topix had risen 7.5%.

Similarly, the S&P 500 stock index had jumped 9.5% and global markets bounced back following Mr Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the increased tariffs on nearly all trading partners would now be paused.

Tariffs latest: Trump gives reasons for pausing some tariffs

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the “90-day pause” was for the “more than 75 countries” who had not retaliated against his tariffs “in any way”.

He added that during this period they would still have to pay a “substantially lowered” 10% tariff, which is “effective immediately”.

It is lower than the 20% tariff that Mr Trump had set for goods from the European Union, 24% on imports from Japan and 25% on products from South Korea.

The UK was already going to face a blanket 10% tariff under the new system.

Mr Trump said the increased 125% tariff on imported goods from China was “effective immediately”.

He added: “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

What’s in Trump’s tariff pause?

Here’s what Donald Trump’s tariff pause entails:

‘Reciprocal’ tariffs on hold

• Higher tariffs that took effect today on 57 trading partners will be paused for 90 days

• These include the EU, Japan and South Korea, all of which will face a baseline 10% duty instead

• Countries that already had a 10% levy imposed since last week – such as the UK – aren’t affected by the pause

China tariffs increased

• Trump imposed a higher 125% tariff on China

• That’s in addition to levies he imposed during his first term

• China had hit the US with 84% tariff earlier today, following tit-for-tat escalations

No change for Canada or Mexico

• Canadian and Mexican goods will remain subject to 25% fentanyl-related tariffs if they don’t comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement’s rules of origin

• Compliant goods are exempt

Car and metal tariffs remain

• Trump’s pause doesn’t apply to the 25% tariffs he levied on steel and aluminium in March and on cars (autos) on 3 April

• This 25% tariff on car parts does not come into effect until 3 May

Sectors at risk

• Copper, lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals are expected to be subject to separate tariffs, in the same way autos are

Hours after Mr Trump announced the pause on tariffs for most countries, a White House official clarified that this did not apply to the 25% duties imposed on some US imports from Mexico and Canada.

The tariffs were first announced in February and Mexico and Canada were not included in the “Liberation Day” announcements.

Hours before the 125% tariff on China was revealed, Beijing said it was increasing tariffs on US goods by 50%.

It meant tariffs of 84% would be enforced on US goods – up from the 34% China had previously planned.

China ‘want to make a deal’

Asked why he posted “BE COOL” on Truth Social hours before announcing his tariff pause, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House: “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line.”

“They were getting yippy, you know, were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” he added.

Mr Trump continued: “China wants to make a deal, they just don’t know how to go about it.

“[They’re] quite the proud people, and President Xi is a proud man. I know him very well, and they don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out.

“They’re in the process of figuring out, but they want to make a deal.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the walk back was part of a grand negotiating strategy by Mr Trump.

“President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself,” she said, adding that the news media “clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also insisted Mr Trump had strengthened his hand through his tariffs.

“President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself,” he said.

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Mr Bessent said Mr Trump decided to raise tariffs on China because Beijing hadn’t reached out to the US and instead increased its own levies on US goods.

Downing Street said that the UK will “coolly and calmly” continue its negotiations with the US.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “A trade war is in nobody’s interests. We don’t want any tariffs at all, so for jobs and livelihoods across the UK, we will coolly and calmly continue to negotiate in Britain’s interests.”