By promising troops to Russia, Kim Jong-un has internationalised the conflict, adding to instability around the world

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”.