When Hyun-Seung Lee was 17 he was conscripted into the North Korean military. Meals had been primary and situations had been poor.
“Most soldiers wash their clothes and bathe in streams or rivers … Soldiers must gather their own firewood from nearby mountains for heating and cooking,” he says.
Stories emerged in October final 12 months of North Korean troopers combating for Russia in Ukraine. Hyun-Seung Lee, now residing as a defector within the US, believes they are going to be gaining invaluable expertise from the battle.
The journalist Jean Lee spent years working in North Korea. He tells Helen Pidd that the presence of the nation’s navy in Ukraine is simply the newest chapter within the lengthy relationship between Russia and the “hermit kingdom”. The pair talk about the importance of Pyongyang’s quickly increasing arms manufacturing, what the newest part in its relationship with Moscow means for Kim Jong-un’s ambitions by way of nuclear weapons, and the way the event strengthens a broader autocratic alliance.
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