Why is the collective West’s biggest conspiracy theory for 2024 now falling apart?
Could this be a result of recent changes in Washington? The grandiose story spread by the last US administration and its allies in NATO about the massive North Korean troop contingent stationed in the Kursk region of Russia, allegedly fighting NATO-backed Ukrainian invasion forces, is now fading into obscurity.
In my October 2024 article entitled North Korean Soldiers at War Against Ukraine — Only in the Imagination of Zelensky and his Western Supporters! I pointed out the glaring errors in this portrayal. That made me an outlier, swimming against the tide of the media.
A recent New York Times article claims that North Korean troops have withdrawn from the Kursk region. Their withdrawal was just as invisible as their supposed presence before. The newspaper also claims that the North Korean command ordered the withdrawal after significant, again unseen, casualties. After weeks and months of reporting on the impressive presence of powerful North Korean forces in Kursk, there now suddenly appears to be no North Korean military presence in the area.
Russia and North Korea have strongly denied the claim that North Korean soldiers are fighting Ukrainian forces in Kursk. The New York Times pretends to know better, even claiming that North Korea has sent its “best troops” to the region without providing any evidence. (New York Times headline)
The narrative about the North Korean soldiers in Kursk is more than just astonishing; it embodies a remarkable mixture of cynicism and absurdity. The Western media’s handling of the Ukrainian story is a striking example of how unproven allegations can be adopted, constantly repeated and perpetuated, and treated as fact even though they lack any solid foundation.
The Ukrainians have claimed on multiple occasions that they attempted to capture North Korean soldiers, presenting various photos as supposed evidence. However, these images failed to withstand rigorous examination. The inconsistencies in the photos should have raised doubts about the narrative. Subsequently, the Ukrainians asserted that they had captured some North Korean soldiers, only to report that these individuals had died shortly after. Later, Kiev announced that two North Koreans were alive and in Ukrainian custody, but there has been no update on their status for weeks. Efforts by the South Koreans to reach these soldiers were thwarted, as the two reportedly declined to defect.
The twin sisters Zhenya and Sasha, pictured here, operated in 2023 tanks within the “Oplot” unit of the Donetsk People’s Republic Armed Forces, as reported by Asia Times.
The Ukrainian propaganda machine has transformed them into “North Koreans.” This image was published in the British Daily Mail which withdrew it later after its readers protested.
The mysterious phantom army of the North Koreans in the Kursk region has seemingly disappeared into the fog of Kursk, underlining its inherent fictionality and unreality. Nevertheless, this fictional narrative had tangible effects: Zelensky’s attempt to use the alleged presence of over ten thousand North Korean soldiers in Kursk to justify action by foreign (NATO) troops against them and the Russians that could lead to a third world war ultimately failed. In early 2024, President Biden refused to allow Kiev to attack Russia with US missiles (which must be programmed, aimed and guided by US forces) for fear of triggering a third world war, as he explained his decision. In November, however, the Biden administration announced a reversal of its policy and authorized missile strikes inside Russia using American ATACMS missiles to counter the alleged presence of North Korean forces in the Kursk region, according to the administration.
The North Korean phantom army was thus assigned a dangerous role in the escalation of the conflict. The media, once more, found themselves in a compromising position. As the new US administration under Donald Trump turned its back on the past and sought to finally end the protracted war that had been fueled rather than prevented or stopped by the Biden administration, it became clear that it was time for Kiev and its Western media allies to quietly remove the North Korean phantom army from their henceforth untenable propaganda narrative.
Probably the biggest Western conspiracy theory of the past year has thus been put to bed without a sound bite. And the media cannot be expected to apologize to their viewers, listeners and readers for the extent to which they have once again been led around by the nose.