The transfer to Russia of an estimated 10,000 North Korean troops to bolster Vladimir Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine represents an alarming escalation of a conflict that is causing ever-greater international insecurity and instability. The provocative deployment by the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, links the confrontation on Europe’s border to the long-running east-west standoff on the Korean peninsula, potentially aggravating both.

The US is plainly deeply concerned. Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, forcefully warned Moscow and Pyongyang last week against sending North Korean troops on to Ukrainian battlefields. The US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said that if Kim’s soldiers “enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags”.

American alarm stems in part from the fact the war has not gone well for Ukraine of late. Weakened by faltering western military support, Kyiv lost more territory in October, mostly in the........

© The Guardian