World
North Koreans are ‘disciplined’, armed with high-quality ammo, says Ukraine
Despite a push by the United States to end Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces appear set for another hurdle almost three years into the conflict.
According to South Korea, North Korea is preparing to send more soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, which has recently captured several North Korean soldiers, says overall, its new enemies are learning on the battlefield, becoming increasingly disciplined.
“With about four months passing since North Korea’s deployment to the Russia-Ukraine war, it is presumed that follow-up measures and preparations for additional deployment are being accelerated due to the occurrence of many casualties and prisoners of war,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement they made public on Friday.
Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) observed on January 2 that new North Korean troops were rotated into combat positions to replace losses.
The GUR estimated North Korea has so far sent about 11,000 soldiers to fight in Russia’s region of Kursk, where Ukraine has staged a counter-invasion to distract Russian troops.
That force was reported to have arrived in Kursk on November 4, and they entered the battle in earnest 10 days later.
Since then, Ukraine says it has inflicted high casualties, but at a slowing rate, as North Koreans learn and adapt.
In their first 40 days in the field, Ukraine said North Koreans suffered 3,000 casualties, or 75 a day, while in the following 20 days they suffered another 1,000 casualties, or 50 a day.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the toll. However, Western officials recently concurred with these Ukrainian figures.
“I think there’s no reason why [North Korea] should not keep sending in battle casualty replacements and not to expand the North Korean force,” said Keir Giles, Russia and Eurasia expert at Chatham House, a UK-based think tank.
“Russia – if all the estimates are to be believed – still badly needs the manpower, and North Korea still plainly values what it’s getting in exchange for this. So why would this force not be just the precursor to a much larger deployment?” he told Al Jazeera.
Grim orders
Moscow has been cagey about the presence of North Korean soldiers, leaving Ukraine and its Western partners as the main sources of information about their alleged military conduct.
In recent weeks, Kyiv has suggested there are grim orders at play – executions and suicides to hide identities and prevent being captured alive.
“After the battles with our guys, the Russians are also trying to … literally burn the faces of the killed North Korean soldiers,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel last month – an apparent effort to conceal their ethnic identity.
In December he wrote, “their own people are executing them.”
Killed North Koreans have been found to be carrying papers falsely identifying them as Russian citizens, Ukraine’s army has said.
Giles suggested Russian pride could be a factor.
“[Russian leaders] don’t want this to become an issue within Russia itself because it undermines the myth that Russia does not need allies, that it is a superpower… that it is perfectly capable of winning wars on its own,” said Giles.
Ukrainian troops and officials also claim that North Koreans have been instructed to kill themselves rather than surrender.
Zelenskyy last week decorated the paratroopers of the 95th Air Assault Brigade who captured the first two North Korean POWs on January 9 and 11.
Previously, wounded North Koreans are understood to have tried to lure their captors into a deathtrap, detonating a grenade as Ukrainians approached.
Ukrainian paratroopers caught a third North Korean POW on Monday, after rebuffing an assault.
In their opinion, he tried to kill himself.
“When the [van that would transport him] drove up, there were concrete pillars under the road, and he accelerated and hit his head on the pillar. He hit it very hard and passed out,” the paratroopers said on January 21.
According to Giles, “the fact that they only have three prisoners… is a good indication that measures are indeed being taken to make sure North Koreans don’t get caught.”
One prisoner, a reconnaissance sniper, said he was told he was on a training mission, according to Kyiv.
North Korea’s benefits
North Korea’s involvement in Ukraine comes with benefits.
While the isolated state has a history of sending mercenaries to wars in Africa and Vietnam for state revenue, it is receiving combat readiness at a level of action not since 1953, when the Korean War ended.
Last October, expert Olena Guseinova, a lecturer at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, estimated North Korea could realistically send up to 20,000 soldiers to Ukraine based on economic interests, in a research paper for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
She estimated the value of weapons North Korea sold to Russia at $5.5bn. North Korean ballistic missiles have reportedly been falling on Ukraine since last September.
“Kim Jong-un could potentially accumulate between $143m and $572m in additional annual revenue if he were to commit between 5,000 and 20,000 personnel to support Russia’s war effort,” Guseinova wrote.
“The overall capacity of the DPRK’s military could hypothetically allow Kim Jong Un to deploy up to 100,000 troops to Ukraine. Realistically, however, the likelihood of such a commitment seems improbable,” she said, because of concerns about exposing North Koreans to outside influences.
The Russian collaboration with North Korea started in the summer of 2023, when South Korean intelligence reported that Pyongyang began to supply Russia with nine million artillery shells.
In addition to a defence pact with Russia, North Korea has been promised ballistic missile technology and assistance in launching satellites.
Russia is believed to be paying for these weapons and services with free oil, sent into North Korea by train.
The big shift in relations came on June 19 last year, when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which, he said, included “mutual assistance in the event of aggression”.
In the early weeks of engagement, Ukrainian units posted aerial footage of North Koreans shooting aimlessly at the drones that killed them with grenades.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service attributed the high casualties to a “lack of understanding of modern warfare”.
In recent days, however, Ukrainian units confessed that their North Korean adversaries were tough and disciplined fighters who spearheaded assaults for Russians.
“They go first. If successful, the Russian troops go to consolidate and take up defence,” said Petro Gaidashchuk of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade operating in Kursk.
“The Koreans are more disciplined. They don’t panic so much if they come under fire. If there is one or more wounded in their assault group, they don’t run away,” he told a telethon on January 17. “They try to continue the assault, to pull the wounded away, despite the fact that there is shooting and explosions all around.”
This has created friction among the Russians in whose units they were embedded, he said.
After defeating a North Korean assault on January 18, Ukraine’s 8th Special Operations Regiment in Kursk said the enemy exfiltrated the battlefield “in a coordinated manner”.
Gaidashchuk claimed Russia was lavishing equipment and training on North Koreans that it had denied to its own men.
“The Russians are very dissatisfied with the fact that the North Koreans are better equipped, they are better fed and they are given more time for training, unlike the Russian contract soldiers,” Gaidashchuk said.
Earlier this year, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces posted excerpts from a notebook they claimed to have found on a North Korean military special forces officer, Gyong Hong Jong, who had been killed in action.
“To be not a battalion that takes on obligations only in words, but a battalion that knows how to act and fight immediately after receiving an order, to prepare universal battalions that can perfectly perform any task even at the cost of death – this is the goal that every battalion in our armed forces must achieve, this is the spirit of this congress,” wrote Jong.
North Korean troops ‘had very high-quality ammunition’: Ukraine
Oleg Chaus, a Ukrainian sergeant with the 17th Heavy Mechanized Brigade in Kursk, said on Christmas Eve that whereas Russian assaults had been “chaotic” and “disorganised”, three units including North Koreans attacked in an organised manner and with air support on December 24.
“All the servicemen of these three groups had very high-quality ammunition. Each of them had disposable grenade launchers, they had night vision devices, they had small assault backpacks with them,” he said.
These reports contrast with descriptions of the foolhardy tasks given to Russian soldiers.
In Toretsk, Ukrainian forces observed a new Russian tactic this month of using soldiers to run ammunition to a forward position, dump it to be picked up by an advancing assault group, and run back.
They called such runners “camels”. Ukrainian soldiers commented that these fighters had a short life expectancy.
“Sometimes a soldier goes on an assault without weapons or protective equipment,” Maksym Belousov, a spokesman for the 60th Mechanised Inhulets Brigade fighting near Lyman town, recently said.
“His task is to be a ‘live target’ to detect our positions. He is followed by a trained fighter who can observe where the shooting is coming from and determine the location of our forces.”
One question for Ukraine’s allies is whether additional North Korean manpower necessitates their stepping in with boots on the ground as well.
French President Emmanuel Macron first raised that prospect almost a year ago. Putin then reacted with a threat of nuclear attacks.
On January 18, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany could send a peacekeeping force to secure a demilitarised zone if a ceasefire were agreed between Ukraine and Russia.
“We’re the largest NATO partner in Europe. We’ll obviously have a role to play,” he told Suddeutsche Zeitung.
“No one can pretend this is a conflict confined to one theatre,” said Giles. “It’s global. There’s a destabilising influence in multiple theatres. That strengthens the hand of [the Russian] coalition to challenge the West globally.”
World
Meta appeals landmark jury verdict that found it to blame for social media addiction for young users
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has appealed the verdict of a landmark social media addiction lawsuit in Los Angeles, challenging the jury’s determination that the company designed its platforms to hook young users without concern for their well-being.
Lawyers representing Meta filed a notice of appeal Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawyers will provide their arguments related to the appeal in subsequent court filings.
The case centered on a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child and that it worsened her mental health struggles. The jury found that negligence by both Meta and Google-owned YouTube, which was also a defendant in the case, was a substantial factor in causing harm to the young woman, identified in court only by her initials, KGM, and her first name, Kaley.
The jury awarded her $3 million in damages and recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages. Her lead attorney, Mark Lanier, said in a statement Friday that the legal team is expecting the appellate court to “continue the careful application of the law to this case, affirming the verdict of the trial court.”
A notice of appeal starts what can be a lengthy process. A Meta spokesperson provided a statement Friday that they also gave when the jury returned the verdict in March, saying that teen mental health is “profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”
José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, said in a statement Friday that YouTube plans to appeal and that “these are standard motions for this case to move forward.”
Meta and Google had each filed post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict — a routinely filed motion by defense lawyers asking a judge to toss out the jury’s verdict — and for a new trial. The trial judge, Carolyn B. Kuhl, denied those motions in early June.
Tech companies like Meta and YouTube are shielded from legal responsibility for content posted by third parties, based on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. To get around those protections, the plaintiffs focused on the design features of the platforms like “infinite scroll,” or the endless nature of feeds on the platforms, and autoplay functions.
Questions about encroaching into content-related territory were the subject of many objections from the defendants throughout the five-week trial.
The verdict in this case came during a time of legal woes for Meta. A jury in New Mexico returned a verdict finding that Meta’s platforms harm children’s mental health and safety just one day before the California jury reached its decision. The New Mexico jury, siding with state prosecutors who brought the case, landed on a penalty of $375 million. Meta has said the company disagrees with the verdict and will also appeal in that case.
“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement at the time of the verdicts and again on Friday.
Kaley’s case was a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, and the verdict could influence the outcome of thousands of similar lawsuits accusing social media companies of deliberately causing harm. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. were also initially named as defendants in the case, but each settled for undisclosed sums before the trial began.
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Israel’s leaders are publicly signaling that their country is prepared to strike Iran for a third time, while a U.S. official tells Fox News Digital that Washington remains closely coordinated with Jerusalem.
“The IDF is on high alert and prepared to resume the campaign, regain air superiority, and carry out an independent Israeli strike against Iran to eliminate threats — even for a third time,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Minister Israel Katz said Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli Air Force’s newest pilots.
“If we have to return, we will return with even greater force,” Katz added.
ISRAEL DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS STRIKES ON IRAN COULD RESUME SOON, SIGNALS CAMPAIGN NOT OVER
U.S. Central Command shared this footage in a July 8, 2026, press release about strikes against Iran. (CENTCOM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned Thursday that Israel’s campaign against Iran was not finished and said Tehran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement reached with Washington.
“The war has not yet ended,” Netanyahu said at the air force ceremony. “Alongside the old challenges, new challenges are emerging. Axes are falling, and axes are rising. We are paying attention to this. We are prepared for every scenario.”
Two Israeli sources told CNN Friday that the Trump administration does not currently want Israel to participate in the latest U.S. strikes against Iran.
“Netanyahu would really want to join the U.S. strikes, but the U.S. doesn’t want Israel involved at the moment,” one of the sources told CNN.
A U.S. official denied the report, telling Fox News Digital, “This is fake news. The United States has a strong relationship with Israel, which contributed to the resounding success of Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury. We remain in close coordination with our Israeli partners.”
Israel first launched a major campaign against Iran in June 2025, with the United States later joining the fighting by striking the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. On Feb. 28, the two allies launched a new, coordinated military campaign against Iran.
While Israeli leaders are openly presenting the military as ready for another campaign, some Israeli officials and analysts say there is little appetite for renewed fighting unless it produces a clear strategic result.
The public warnings may overstate Israel’s desire to reenter the fighting, said Israeli analyst and journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, Nadav Eyal.
“On the record, Israel is signaling that it is prepared and even eager to strike Iran. But off the record, sources are saying that it is anything but that,” Eyal told Fox News Digital. “The reason is clear: Any Israeli strike in Iran will lead to Iranian ballistic missile attacks against Israel.”
US CLAWS BACK KEY CONCESSION TO IRAN AFTER FRESH ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, from left, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Trump insisted Egypt and Jordan will take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, dismissing the countries’ refusal to accept people from the war-shattered territory. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
Eyal said the domestic political consequences could make Netanyahu reluctant to begin another round of fighting, particularly as Israel approaches another election.
“If these strikes are meant to provide meaningful, strategic change, it is something the prime minister can sell to the public,” Eyal said. “But if the intention is only to use Israel as leverage, why should Israelis again experience a couple of weeks or more of sitting in safe rooms and losing their summer vacations, children’s day camps and summer camps? That could play out badly for the prime minister politically.”
“The truth is that Israel was not really enthusiastic about another strike,” he added. “That doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. If President Trump demands that Netanyahu join, it is very hard to see the Israelis saying no. But right now, I don’t see any passion for it.”
The diplomatic outreach continued even as Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
A source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News that Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran, in coordination with the United States, to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume.
On Thursday, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office, which said the two agreed to continue coordinating across several regional fronts. Trump briefed Netanyahu on American operations in the Gulf, the statement said.
NETANYAHU REJECTS REPORTS OF A RIFT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAYS THE TWO REMAIN ALIGNED ON IRAN
A satellite image shows damage at the control tower in the port of Chabahar, Iran, July 9, 2026, after the U.S. military said July 8, 2026, it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping. ( 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)
The military warnings came as the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence about what is described as a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
The developments follow renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. naval officials said the maritime threat remained “severe.” U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reminded commercial vessels Friday that an expanded southern route through the strait remained open and that no controlling authority could require ships to pay a fee for passage.
A U.S. official told Fox News on background that Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels were “acts of terrorism” and constituted failed performance under the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
“The United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,” the official said. “Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”
Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer who now heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Israel had never regarded the memorandum as an adequate guarantee.
“From Israel’s perspective, the MOU was never a good deal,” Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital, speaking of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.
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CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid Iran war (U.S. Central Command on X)
“Israel should be on high alert, ready to face an Iranian attack and prepared to strike back if necessary,” he added.
For now, Israel’s leaders appear to be leaving Iran — and Washington — with little doubt that they are prepared to act. Whether the United States allows Israel to join the renewed campaign, however, could determine whether the latest confrontation remains limited or develops into another full-scale regional war.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Published on •Updated
Belgium’s three regions announced on Friday that they would introduce a road tax next year that foreign drivers transiting the country would also have to pay.
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The country does not currently charge drivers to use its highways and the issue of introducing some form of payment has been debated for years.
“Everyone who uses our roads must contribute fairly to their maintenance,” said the transport minister for the southern Wallonia region, François Desquesnes.
Starting on 1 May 2027 drivers will need to register their vehicle and pay the road tax, with day passes available for drivers driving across the country.
An annual pass for a zero-emission car will cost €90 and up to €125 for higher polluting vehicles.
Road cameras that catch cars that haven’t paid for a pass will incur a fine of €70.
In Belgium, the individual regions are responsible for maintaining roads and motorways.
Currently, drivers can use almost all highways toll-free but the possibility of an introducing a charge has been under discussion for several years.
The revenue would be used for the operation and maintenance of the road network.
The proposed toll still needs final approval from the regions and European authorities.
According to the chairman of the liberal-conservative MR party, the government intends to offset the new toll by lowering other taxes for Belgians.
Additional sources • AFP
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