The Guardian view on North Koreans dying for Russia: an alarming alliance gains strength | Editorial

For Pyongyang, dead soldiers are a price worth paying for the rewards of friendship with Moscow

A few years ago, it would have sounded fantastical to suggest that massed North Korean soldiers would fight on a European battlefield - as a Ukrainian commander noted last month. Yet about 10,000 are now thought to be fighting for Moscow, and on Tuesday a US official reported that several hundred" had died in Russia'sKursk region.

North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world, with more than 1.25 million personnel in a country of just 26 million. Despite its extraordinary nuclear and missile achievements, much of its vast stockpile of weaponry is thought to be out of date - though that hasn't stopped it shipping as much as $5.5bn worth of arms and ammunition to Russia. The military has not engaged in large-scale combat since the end of the Korean war in 1953. At home, soldiers spend significant time trying to acquire food or basic supplies, including fuel.