RFA Insider closes out the year with two gigantic stories concerning North Korean soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war and allegations of overseas Chinese espionage and influence.
Off Beat
In early October, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) revealed that thousands of North Korean troops were being deployed to Russia’s Far East to undergo training and eventually fight alongside Russian soldiers against Ukraine. More details emerged in the following days: Russia would pay a monthly $2,000 per soldier, though observers believed that the majority would be pocketed by the North Korean government. While Russia and North Korea both initially denied the deployment, the allies later adopted a more ambiguous stance, saying that such an act would conform to the strategic partnership they had signed.
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a disturbing video of what he claimed were Russian forces burning the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle in order to keep their deployment a secret. Reporter Jaewoo Park from RFA Korean spoke with a Ukrainian soldier who is a member of a unit that encountered the North Korean troops, and joins today’s episode to unpack the plight of these dispatched soldiers.
Podcast Free Asia
A listener comment griping about their father-in-law’s devotion to Thich Minh Tue allows for an update on the “unofficial” monk from Vietnam. Tue, who is not officially a monk in Vietnam’s state-backed Buddhist system, went viral after videos of his humble barefoot pilgrimages were shared online. However, his growing popularity prompted Vietnamese authorities to stop him in his tracks.
Now, Tue is embarking on another pilgrimage from Vietnam to India, and he’s already crossed into Laos. RFA Vietnamese published this video that included a map that predicts his route to India.
Double Off Beat
A business advisor to Prince Andrew has been identified as the latest Chinese national to be accused of covertly advancing Beijing’s interests overseas. Director of RFA’s Investigative team Boer Deng returns to the podcast to explain how RFA was able to name the business advisor, known only as “H6” in court documents, as businessman Yang Tengbo.
Yang was banned from the U.K. in 2021 following an investigation into suspicious activity by a foreign state. During the search, officials uncovered alarming messages revealing the deep level of trust that the Duke of York had placed in the businessman. Yang appealed the ban, which was ultimately upheld by the court on December 12 of this year. Following RFA’s exclusive report, Yang Tengbo asked that the court reveal his name, claiming that he had nothing to hide and rather, had fallen victim to changing political tides.