US fears North Korean military action, creates chaos ahead of election: report

• US officials fear North Korean military action as the US election approaches, NBC News reported.
• Senior officials told the outlet that such a move could be encouraged by Vladimir Putin.
• North Korea and Russia have developed close military ties in recent years.

U.S. officials are preparing for possible North Korean military action — perhaps encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin — as the U.S. election approaches in November, NBC News reported, citing six senior U.S. officials.

Such a move could aim to create chaos in another part of the world as the electoral process accelerates, they said.

“We have no doubt that North Korea will be provocative this year. It’s just a question of how much the situation will escalate,” added a US intelligence official.

Following the NBC News report, a Donald Trump campaign spokesperson said, “The only ‘October Surprise’ will be the look of shock” among reporters when Trump is re-elected.

The officials’ warning comes ahead of a likely meeting between North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un and Putin, which the Kremlin said earlier this week was “in preparation.”

“President Putin has received an active invitation for an official visit to North Korea. The visit is being prepared. We will announce the dates of the trip in due time,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. French news agency AFP reported.

Russia and North Korea have developed closer relations since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

For its part, North Korea sent munitions to Moscow, apparently to help Putin’s forces in their war against Ukraine, but also to take the opportunity to test its equipment on the battlefield, according to the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. .

In return, North Korea “expects Russia to provide advanced weapons systems and technological know-how to significantly strengthen its defense, nuclear and space programs,” the think tank said.

The six U.S. officials also told NBC News that the Biden administration is concerned that the relationship could lead to significant developments in Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities, increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

However, one official said China probably did not want instability in the region and so Russia might be hesitant to get involved ahead of the U.S. election.

Nonetheless, Rachel Minyoung Lee, a senior fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, expressed concern that strengthening ties between North Korea and Russia could “embolden” Kim to take more aggressive military or diplomatic action in the years future.

North Korea has already sent significant military aid to Russia.

In November 2023, a South Korean lawmaker said North Korea had sent Moscow more than 1 million artillery shells to bolster its war effort.

But earlier this month, the office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told Reuters that weapons supplied by North Korea appeared to have a high failure rate.

“About half of North Korea’s missiles lost their planned trajectory and exploded in the air; in such cases, the debris was not recovered,” Kostin’s office said, citing examination of the debris from 21 of the approximately 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia between the end of December and the end of February.