“If the North Koreans are actually sending troops to fight with the Russians, then clearly the level of Russian willingness to support North Korea, to help defend North Korea, is going to be equivalent,” he told NBC News in an interview Thursday. “And that really, in many ways, supplants China as North Korea’s most important protector.”Ukraine says 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, could join fight starting SundayThe U.S. and its ally South Korea say 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, with the total expected to reach 12,000. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in a post on X that the first North Korean soldiers were expected to be deployed in combat zones as early as Sunday. The entry of North Korean troops into the Ukraine war could also lead to even further escalation of the conflict. “I think that the North Korea move is a big part of that, frankly,” Bremmer said.

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