North Korea Uses Elite Troops to Barter With Russia: Experts

North Korea has bound itself with Russia as a co-belligerent by sending elite troops to the Russian camp, according to experts. This, they say, would be a quid pro quo move for North Korea to obtain food supplies and military technology improvements.
“When Wagner stayed away from Putin, [Putin] needed the forces to fight for him in a similar capacity. And there’s only one country that could go to that. It’s North Korea, and North Korea is willing, and North Korea is reciprocal to Putin’s offering,” Yu said.
As an exchange, Yu said, North Korea would have access to food, grains, energy, and oil supplies from Russia as this barren country, home to 23 million people, has been long short of bare necessities.
Kim Taewoo, former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification and professor of Konyang University, said that Kim Jong Un risked Western sanctions to become a co-belligerent with Russia as he is ambitious to reign supreme on the Korean peninsula.
“Pyongyang is keen to obtain Russian help to improve its nuclear weapons, what Kim Jong Un sees as the key to suppress the South and have a bargaining chip with Washington,” Kim Taewoo told The Epoch Times.
The North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia included the Storm Corps, also known as the 11th Army Corps, a special forces unit trained on infiltration, infrastructure sabotage, and assassinations.