WHAT HAS NORTH KOREA LEARNED FROM RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE?
Articles
Thu, 04/27/2023 - 10:05pm
Daniel A. Pinkston, Ph.D.
Troy University, Korea
April 2023
As Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine continues into its second year, most observers have been surprised by some aspects of the conflict. The consensus is that the Russian military shockingly has underperformed against Ukraine, and the Ukrainian resistance has exceeded expectations.[1] Furthermore, students of international relations and warfare are analyzing the implications for geopolitics as well as the advances in weapon systems. While many analysts have considered the possible implications for conflict in the Taiwan Strait,[2] it is important to understand the lessons Pyongyang is learning from Ukraine given North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities.[3]
Pyongyang is an ardent student of conflict and international affairs, so North Korea is observing Ukraine with great interest. To accomplish this objective, Pyongyang has several institutions and channels to support its monitoring of the situation abroad. These institutions are embedded in the ruling Korean Workers Party (KWP), the state, and the Korean People’s Army (KPA) to form a network for processing information and distributing the “guidance decisions” of the party leadership (Kim Jong-un). The system is personalistic with an extreme concentration of power under the party’s "monolithic leadership” system and the “monolithic ideological”
https://smallwarsjournal.com/index.php/jrnl/art/what-has-north-korea-learned-russias-invasion-ukraine
