In recent days, a widespread wave of accusations against North Korea has been launched by the West, centered on sending weapons and troops to Russia to participate in the war in Ukraine. Blinken, the US Secretary of State, claims that around 8,000 soldiers from North Korea have gone to western Russia and will directly enter the conflict in Ukraine in the coming days. Meanwhile, the South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency also claims that a North Korean advance unit is likely to be deployed on the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war. Kim Yong-hyun, South Korea's Defense Minister, claimed that North Korea has sent around 1,000 missiles to Russia.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said that the Kremlin has provided Russian uniforms and equipment to these North Korean soldiers, and all of this shows that Russia intends to use these foreign forces in frontline operations against Ukraine. US President Joe Biden also said that if North Korean forces enter Ukraine, Kyiv should respond. The European Union has also warned North Korea and Russia about deploying North Korean forces to use them in the war against Ukraine.
In response to these allegations, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, rejected the reports and called them baseless accusations.
The alliance and coordination between the US and some of its European partners, with extensive media coverage against the relations between North Korea and Russia, is taking place while there are several notable points to consider.
Firstly, despite the claims of the Kyiv leaders about extensive operations on Russian soil, relying on Western armaments, reports and field evidence indicate a critical situation for the Ukrainian army and its foreign mercenaries. The New York Times reported that in October, Russia achieved its greatest territorial gains, including advancing towards Krasnyi Lyman and taking control of many residential areas and capturing the strategic cities of Ugledar and Selydove. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, also admitted that the country's armed forces are retreating from their positions due to a shortage of manpower on the front lines. Putin also stated that the Russian army has surrounded Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
Therefore, just like in the past when the West has tried to downplay its losses against Russia through marginalization, now the scenario of magnifying North Korea can be considered a repetitive tactic in this regard.
Secondly, the West's behavior towards Ukraine is not unrelated to the US elections. While the leaders of the White House are trying to portray a peaceful image of Harris by magnifying alleged ceasefire efforts in West Asia (Gaza and Lebanon), they are simultaneously trying to use Ukraine as a tool to scare people about the return of Trump. At the same time, they are also using foreign policy and external threats to the US elections to downplay issues such as election fraud, as reports of electoral irregularities have been published in recent days in some states, and the White House has been trying to justify this by claiming hackers and Russian interference.
Thirdly, Europe and the US are trying to implement new dimensions of sending arms and troops to Ukraine, while the approaching winter and the intensification of the economic crisis in many European countries have created a situation that is conducive to public protests against the war in Ukraine. The economic situation is so dire that the UK has recently announced that it will cut fuel subsidies for the elderly, and in Germany, there are reports of rising inflation and widespread dissatisfaction with the Schultz government, as well as increasing demands for early elections.
In these circumstances, the West is looking for a justification to prioritize security in their societies, while also addressing the issue of Ukraine's manpower shortage. The West, which had previously claimed to have sent Chinese arms and drones and Iranian missiles to Ukraine without ever providing evidence, is now using the pretext of North Korean troops and arms to justify their behavior. For example, Hill writes that US Congress representatives from both the Democratic and Republican parties have asked Biden to allow Poland to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine. The Canadian Foreign Minister has asked Western countries to allow Ukraine to use long-range Western armaments to attack deep into Russian territory.
This war-mongering approach, cloaked in the name of North Korean military presence, becomes even clearer when, at the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha asks his allies and supporters to lift all restrictions on Ukraine's attacks on Russian territory.
This exploitation to justify increased arms shipments is such that Russia has recently announced that London is using the Black Sea corridor to supply arms to Kyiv. In addition, Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian President's assistant, stated that the US and its NATO allies are planning to change the structure of the Black Sea and use European inland waterways for military purposes in order to access the Black Sea.
Fourthly, the behavior of Western countries shows that a large part of their movements are based on the US national security strategy, and Europeans, who have sacrificed their political, military, and economic independence to follow American interests, are now playing their role in the Washington game. Europeans, who have been trapped in America's self-interest in the war in Ukraine and the crises in West Asia, are now taking a more extensive approach to the third side of the American game, East Asia. Although Europeans claim to be opposing North Korea's participation in the war in Ukraine, in reality, this claim is a cover for their eastern orientation. This eastern orientation is first aimed at intensifying the military and security pressure on China. Secondly, the West, by claiming to oppose North Korea, is trying to milk countries like Japan and South Korea to fund part of NATO's and Ukraine war expenses. As Zelensky announced in an interview with South Korean television, in response to Russia's military cooperation with North Korea, he will soon ask Seoul to provide military equipment.
The West, while creating an arms race in East Asia, is also seeking to gain extensive financial benefits, just as it did with Iranophobia in the face of Arab countries.
Although the West claims to be supporting South Korea and Japan and its allies in East Asia and justifying its NATO expansion and militarization in these regions, in reality, the West is seeking to expand its military influence in the East and ultimately prevent this region from becoming the world's first economic pole in the form of regional unions and plans such as the Silk Road. This can be seen in the recent Western agreements with countries in the region, such as the new security and defense agreement signed between Japan and the European Union, which includes military cooperation, information exchange, and space security, and is designed to counter regional threats and increase joint defense capabilities.
Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, called this pact the first agreement between the EU and a country in the Asia-Pacific region, and considered it a timely move. According to the report, another aspect of this agreement is the increase in Japan's military spending to 2% of its GDP by 2027. Japan and South Korea have recently signed military agreements with the United States as well.
In essence, the West is seeking to take advantage of the lack of military independence of countries like South Korea and Japan, which are dependent on American military power, to disrupt the economy of East Asia and maintain the capitalist system, just as these two countries have done, despite their economic and regional interests, by participating in the competition with China and Russia and imposing sanctions on countries like Iran.
Fifthly, at the current juncture, the Zionist regime is, on the one hand, hated by the world for its genocide in Palestine and Lebanon, and on the other hand, its occupation of Gaza and Lebanon has failed. It seems that the West is trying to divert public opinion from the developments in West Asia by claiming a ceasefire and marginalization, such as the alleged role of North Korea in the Ukraine war and the missile and drone threats from Iran to Europe, while prioritizing European security against Russian threats and its allies to justify its inaction against the Zionist regime's atrocities and the humanitarian disaster in Palestine and Lebanon.
In a final summary of the above, it can be said that the West, which is currently benefiting from the madness of individuals like Zelenskyy and Netanyahu to implement its strategy of securing its interests through crisis-making in West Asia and around Europe, is seeking to expand this unilateral ambition to East Asia as well, while the background of these actions is formed by provocative actions in Taiwan and the militarization of the region under the pretext of supporting South Korea and Japan against North Korea. This behavior once again shows that the West's unilateralism is a threat to all humanity, and the way to counter it is to strengthen multilateralism and for countries to avoid getting caught up in its tension-creating game.
What is happening today in East Asia is clear evidence of the fact that the lack of military independence will ultimately lead to the loss of economic and political independence, as South Korea and Japan are today trapped in America's crisis-creating game due to its military dominance over them, which will have heavy economic and political costs for them, even if they claim to be fighting against North Korea and supporting Ukraine to cover up this issue.
NOURNEWS