The Pentagon has responded to claims that North Korean troops sent to Russia to bolster Vladimir Putin’s forces are consuming online pornography as they now have less restricted internet access.
US department of defence spokesperson Major Charlie Dietz said he couldn’t verify “any North Korean internet habits or virtual ‘extracurriculars’” taking place in Russia.
He continued: “As for internet access, that’s a question best directed to Moscow. Right now, our attention remains on supporting Ukraine and addressing the more significant regional security concerns”.
North Korea’s recent deployment of troops to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, confirmed by both the US and Nato, has raised serious concerns across Asia and with Kyiv’s Western allies.
The move threatens to widen the nearly three-year conflict and is fueling security anxieties in South Korea and beyond about potential concessions Russia might offer North Korea in return.
Major Dietz’s comments followed the claim made by the Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs columnist Gideon Rachman, who wrote on X: “A usually reliable source tells me that the North Korean soldiers who have deployed to Russia have never had unfettered access to the internet before. As a result, they are gorging on pornography.”
Although internet access in Russia is not unrestricted, it remains far more open than in North Korea—one of the world’s most tightly controlled countries that notoriously restricts its citizen’s access to the internet. North Korea is first in the rankings of lowest internet penetration rate as of October 2024, according to Statista.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian and North Korean troops, for the first time, engaged in small-scale fighting that amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the war, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.
North Korean soldiers are reportedly embedded with Russian troops and wear altered uniforms, making it difficult to confirm any North Korean casualties, Mr Umerov told KBS. He also said that he anticipates around five North Korean units, each with approximately 3,000 soldiers, will be stationed in the Kursk region near Russia’s border with Ukraine.