R. W. Carmichael
Former Intelligence Analyst at U.S. Air Force (1962–1970)Sep 5

How many troops could North Korea send to help Russia, and How would
they be selected?
North Korea tried sending an estimated150 “elite” troops to Syria. The
Russians had to transport them, feed them, and arm them. They proved to
be worthless because they were in poor health, had little to no military
knowledge, and there were huge communications problems that were never
resolved. Now the North Korean government is refusing to take them back,
so Russia is stuck with them in Syria.

The North Korean offer of 100,000 troops is specious. Again, the
Russians would have to transport, feed and arm them and all the problems
would still be there, just amplified many times. They would only be
useful as gun fodder and would be more likely to defect than to actually
fight.

The troops that NorK sent to Syria were all DPRK Special Forces. It
would be assumed that those sent to the Ukraine to die would be Special
Forces or paratroops.

But it is unlikely that Putin would accept them after the Syrian experience.

n.b. Because of chronic malnutrition and lack of basic medical care, the
average North Korean is 4 inches shorter and 15 IQ points lower than the
average South Korean. A recent “elite” force defector was found to have
five different internal parasites — two of which had never been seen in
humans previously. That is an indicator of what kind of troops they
would be.

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Mike Riordan
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(Interesting part - the claim that chronic malnutrition etc. has
caused them to be 15 IQ points lower than average South Korean.)