The British newspaper Daily Mail had to remove an article in which a reporter falsely claimed "evidence that North Korean female soldiers are supporting Russia in the conflict in Ukraine". The photo published by the Daily Mail was actually a doctored photo.
The article, originally published by the British newspaper on December 4, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had sent women "to fight as cannon fodder in Ukraine".
The accusation was based on a photograph of two women in military uniforms, allegedly taken in Zheleznogorsk, a large city in the northwestern Kursk Oblast in Russia. The two women were identified as sisters “Wei and Lin”.
The fake image is actually based on a still from a video released by a Donetsk-affiliated channel last year, showing twin sisters telling the cameraman that they are 25 years old and from the city of Makeevka. Both claim to have served in the army since 2014, initially as members of the Donetsk militia.
In a correction, the Daily Mail later said the photo was provided to the newspaper by a "trusted freelance reporter" and apologised for "causing confusion" by reporting the error.
Ukraine and its Western backers have been claiming for weeks that North Korean troops are helping Russia in Kursk. US sources told the media that the deployment, which Moscow and Pyongyang have neither confirmed nor denied, is a legitimate reason to license Ukraine to use Western-funded long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
Ukrainian soldiers interviewed by the BBC recently expressed doubts about claims that North Korean troops were present on the battlefield.
“I have never seen or heard anything about North Koreans, alive or dead,” one of the soldiers was quoted by the BBC as saying.
Previously, on October 21, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that cooperation between Russia and North Korea is not aimed at other countries, so it does not cause concern.
On November 29, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov visited North Korea and held talks with North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang-chol, focusing on implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty that Russia and North Korea signed this year.
The treaty "is designed to play a stabilizing role in Northeast Asia, make a positive contribution to maintaining the balance of power in the region and reducing the risk of war breaking out again on the Korean Peninsula, including the use of nuclear weapons, laying the foundation for building a new Eurasian security system," the Russian Defense Minister said at the talks.
