North Korea may send 100,000 troops to Russia, as Kim tells military to ‘go all out’

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged the country’s military to improve capabilities for fighting a war, state media KCNA said on Monday, amid suggestions that Pyongyang may dispatch as many as 100,000 troops to aid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Kim delivered the speech to a conference of battalion commanders and political instructors held in Pyongyang on Friday, during which he called for building political and military strength and fighting efficiency to ensure that the armed forces can cope with a war.

Threats from the United States and its allies, including South Korea, and their military confrontation with North Korea have brought tension to “the worst phase in history”, he said, calling the Korean peninsula “the world’s biggest hotspot”.

“He ardently called upon all the participants to go all out for bringing about substantial and fundamental improvement in improving their capabilities for fighting an actual war,” KCNA said.

The report came amid international criticism over rapidly developing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

Washington, Seoul and Kyiv have said there are more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, and some of them have engaged in combat in Kursk, near the Ukraine border.