Ukraine

South Korean TV network TV Chosun, citing a South Korean government official, reported on June 21 that South Korea expected North Korea to deploy a large-scale engineering force to the Donetsk Oblast as early as July 2024. The cover story at the time was that the force would help rebuild infrastructure in Donetsk City.

As the Institute for the Study of War stated in its June 26 update, there is no reporting to suggest that North Korean military personnel intend to participate in combat operations in Ukraine. But “the engineering deployed to the region can free up Russian combat power for operations along the frontline and aid Russian efforts to expand military infrastructure and defensive fortifications in occupied Ukraine.”

South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told lawmakers on Tuesday that North Korea is likely to deploy members of its regular armed forces to Ukraine in support of Russia. He stated, “As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely.”

Second, there are some news articles about changes on the North Korea-South Korea border. Not sure if this is related.

North Korea’s army said it will take the “substantial military step” of completely cutting off its territory from South Korea on Wednesday, after months of fortifying its heavily armed border.

The announcement, which comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scrapped a longstanding policy of seeking peaceful reunification with South Korea earlier this year, declared that remaining roads and railways connected to the South would be completely cut, blocking access along the border.

“The acute military situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula requires the armed forces of the DPRK to take a more resolute and stronger measure in order to more creditably defend the national security,” the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said, according to a notice on state-run news agency KCNA that referred to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Since January, Pyongyang has fortified its border defenses, laying land mines, building anti-tank traps and removing railway infrastructure, according to the South Korean military.