from Hacker News

$200M a year, 700k tons of rice, space tech: deal for North Korea in joining war

by paulcarroty on 11/3/24, 6:32 PM with 114 comments

• by killingtime74 on 11/3/24, 7:39 PM

  If anyone is interested the rice is valued at approximately $420 million. https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=rice&month...

• by Animats on 11/3/24, 7:53 PM

  Wars we can expect during the US next presidential administration:

  - Ukraine vs Russia/N. Korea continues. Georgia may be pulled in next.

  - Israel vs. Gaza/Iran/Lebanon continues to escalate.

  - China vs. Taiwan slowly heats up.

  - S. Korea vs. N. Korea/Russia - less likely.

  - Ongoing US-Russia cyberwarfare.

  Neither US presidential candidate is up to handling this.

• by ChumpGPT on 11/3/24, 7:00 PM

  It's quite sad that Russia has better partners than Ukraine does. Zelensky has to beg every day for the West to fulfill its promises while the Russians send some rice and North Korea sends 12k soldiers. China, Iran, and India are funding and supplying Russia with more aid than the US/EU is supplying Ukraine with. Sadly the EU still sends more money every year to Russian coffers than it lends to Ukraine.

  The West is losing its influence and the USA is losing its reputation as a reliable partner. An undesirable result of the War in Ukraine will have some severe consequences for the US/EU in the decades to come. A lot of folks are just oblivious to it.

• by ck2 on 11/3/24, 7:25 PM

  WW3 with Russia+China+NorthKorea (and maybe various middle-east) is kinda scary.

  And it might start when they seize Taiwan like Russia Ukraine, how would we stop them in the slightest when we can't stop the seizure of Ukraine?

  No-one has convinced me yet that Putin isn't going to start executing generals (or falling from 3rd story) until one is willing to push the button when he's finally on his deathbed.

• by mjfl on 11/3/24, 7:32 PM

  North Korea and Russia have a military alliance. When an ally goes to war, you send your troops. Therefore, I don't understand the hysterics about the troops in Kursk. They are no more than 1/30th of what's currently on the front line. More of a training mission for the North Koreans than anything else.

• by tokinonagare on 11/3/24, 7:49 PM

  So, in the end DPRK strategy of over-militarization worked, since it is what allowed them to close the deal. On the other hand it is yet another blow for the US strategic choices and wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Vietnam, Korea, etc.) All that could have been avoided by not bullying the country to the point of famine. It's incredible how strong-willed Koreans are to keep up the fight and do things their way.