[Russian casualty estimate from the US DoD Ping.
A lot.]
SpeedyinTexas had a good observation about reports of a potential 100,000 North Koreans going to fight in the Ukraine.
Something along the lines of “Have they already gone through the 100,000 Syrians, and 100,000 Libyans?”
As you point out, other Countries like North Korea have their own problems. Nobody wants to send thousands of their people and billions of their dollars up in smoke for Russia’s problems.
The Ukraine has G7 and NATO support. Russia has China ready to buy some of their oil or assets at fire sale prices, and maybe offer a bit of lip service.
Russia has to buy any friends it might get, at premium prices. No freebies.
Kim would not be sending his elite to Ukraine. He would be sending “malcotents”. This includes professors, artists, writers, protestors, etc. In other words people who think and don’t like what they see or might talk about in North Korea. Wonder how many would defect if approached by Korean speakers or given Korean language invitations to defect and be repatriated to South Korea? Large numbers of aerial leaflets could be used. South Korea should definitely work with Ukraine if Kim actually does this. What a moral and propaganda victory if large numbers of his “soldiers” defected to South Korea.