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China’s response to Russia’s growing influence over North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, likely combines “exasperation” and “panic” as Beijing appears to be losing control over its client state, according to former U.S. policy and intelligence officials.

They noted that the explicit security partnership between China’s two neighbors —Russia and North Korea — could undermine China’s strategic position in East Asia and has long-term implications that are not beneficial for China.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced that North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will hold “strategic consultations” in Moscow with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, as the United States, South Korea, and NATO express alarm that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to train in Russia.

U.S. officials believe Russia intends to use North Korean soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. South Korea has condemned that as a significant security threat to the international community.

In Beijing, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, and Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko held talks Wednesday, with Wang reaffirming the strong ties between the two nations. The officials exchanged views on Ukraine but did not disclose details of their discussion.

But Chinese officials have avoided direct comments on North Korea dispatching thousands of troops to Russia.

“China calls for all parties to deescalate the situation and strive for the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. This position remains unchanged,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, repeated Beijing’s stance during a briefing on Tuesday.  

China’s panic

“The radio silence in Beijing on this subject is staggering,” said Dennis Wilder, a former senior intelligence official with the CIA.

Wilder said Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to say anything publicly as he faces an unpredictable Kim Jong Un.

“The Chinese have been very careful about nuclear assistance to the North Koreans, keeping them on IV drip of economic support so North Korea remains stable. But if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin goes down the road of nuclear assistance, this will bolster the American alliances in East Asia, maybe creating a true NATO.”

“And so [Chinese President Xi Jinping is] in a very, very difficult spot,” said Wilder during a seminar hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, on Tuesday.

Wilder suggested that the U.S. could leverage its intelligence channels with China for joint data collection and analysis.

Former White House national security council senior official Victor Cha said that by sending troops, North Korea is making a “downpayment” to Russia on a mutual security partnership — something Pyongyang could never secure from Beijing.

In China, he said, “There’s probably a combination of a little bit of exasperation, a little bit of panic and a little bit of they don’t know what to do with regard to the current situation.

“The panic is that Russia now has arguably much more influence over North Korea than China does,” added Cha, who is currently president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at CSIS.

Both Wilder and Cha served on former U.S. president George W. Bush’s National Security Council.

Language barrier  

Other military analysts noted that while North Korean soldiers could gain real-world experience in combat operations simply by deploying to another country, they would also encounter significant challenges.

“You also have an immense language problem,” said Colonel Mark Cancian, who spent over three decades in the U.S. Marine Corps and is now a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program. 

He questioned how a group of North Koreans could effectively integrate with a Russian military unit and communicate and operate together.

The possibility of Russia transferring technology related to ballistic missiles, air defenses and nuclear weapons to North Korea is “probably the most dangerous” scenario from the U.S. point of view, according to Cancian.

Violation of UNSC resolutions

On Tuesday, U.S. officials disputed Russian foreign minister Lavrov’s assertion that military assistance between Russia and North Korea does not violate international law.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday that “Russia’s training of DPRK soldiers involving arms or related material,” as well as “any training or assistance involving DPRK soldiers in the use of ballistic missiles or other arms,” constitutes a direct violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. He was referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced plans to exchange delegations to coordinate actions and share intelligence regarding North Korean troop deployments to Russia.

This week, Kyiv’s special envoy to South Korea will begin talks with South Korean officials.

In Washington, U.S. officials said they would welcome increased South Korean support for Ukraine. The South Korean government indicated that it would consider sending “weapons for defense and attack” and may also dispatch military and intelligence personnel to Ukraine to analyze North Korean battlefield tactics and assist in interrogations of captured North Koreans.

“We, of course, welcome any country supporting our Ukrainian partners as they continue to defend their territorial integrity and sovereignty,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told VOA during a recent briefing.

London — Thousands of Russians, including soldiers, have fled their country to seek asylum in the West since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although only a fraction of asylum applications has been approved. However, in a landmark case, France has allowed several Russian army deserters to enter the country to seek refugee status. Anti-war activists hope it will prompt more Russian soldiers to flee.

Alexander, who does not want to give his family name for fear of political retaliation, is among the six Russian men and four of their partners permitted to enter France in recent months. He and his wife, Irina, are now living in the French city of Caen as they await a court decision on their asylum applications.

In January 2022, as Russia was preparing its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alexander recounted that he was told to go to Russian-occupied Crimea for military exercises. He did not want to go — but was told he had no choice.

Instead, his unit crossed the border into Ukraine as part of the invasion force. 

“I was personally in shock; I didn’t understand what was happening,” Alexander told Agence France-Presse in an interview. “We had just crossed the border into Ukraine. I went to see my commander and asked him: ‘What’s going on? Why are we here? Why have we crossed the border? Why are we on the territory of another country?’ … I didn’t get any answers to my questions.”

Alexander eventually managed to flee the army. “I realized then that I only had two choices: either leave Russia or go to prison. Because going back to the front — I didn’t have the slightest desire, nor the moral possibility,” he said.

“Maybe, thanks to my example, someone will be inspired and want to quit the army. The weaker the army at the front is, the fewer people there are, the quicker the war will end and Ukraine will win,” the 26-year-old told AFP.

Alexander and Irina initially fled to Kazakhstan, where they connected with other Russians escaping the war. However, many Russian exiles say they don’t feel safe in former Soviet countries. Army deserters face 10 years or more in prison if caught and returned to Russia. 

A French court ruled in 2023 that Russians who refuse to fight can claim refugee status, but most are not able to travel abroad to lodge an asylum application, said Ian Bond, a Russia expert and deputy director of the Centre for European Reform.

“It’s relatively easy for Russians still to get to countries in the former Soviet Union. Russians have two passports — they have an internal passport and some have a foreign passport. Particularly for people of military age or active servicemen, even getting their hands on a foreign passport is extremely difficult,” Bond told VOA.

But France granted permission for Alexander and Irina, along with eight other Russians, to enter the country and apply for asylum. It’s believed they arrived in Paris on separate flights from Kazakhstan without passports or travel documents, although the exact details of their journeys have not been released.

“There are a number of ways in which they could have gotten to France, and I think they’re not the first Russian deserters to get asylum in the West. But this seems to be a larger group — rather than in the past [when] I think there have just been some scattered individuals,” said analyst Bond.

The decision followed months of advocacy and campaigning by organizations like Paris-based Russie-Libertes, which encourage Russians to desert the army. The groups say the deserters were meticulously vetted for their anti-war stance.

Olga Prokopieva, the head of Russie-Libertes, said France’s decision to allow the group of army deserters into the country was “unprecedented” and urged other European countries to follow suit. “It has taken us a year of talks. We have tried so many things,” she told Agence France-Presse.

However, Prokopieva told VOA via email on October 29 that Russie-Libertes would no longer be commenting on or publicizing the case, an indication of the sensitivity of the asylum applications.

Get Lost, a Georgia-based organization that helps Russians flee their country, claims to have aided more than 38,000 people, including thousands of soldiers. It also helped Alexander and Irina, along with the eight other Russians allowed to enter France.

Many European nations will have security concerns, said Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform.

“There will be some, maybe in eastern Europe, who will say Russians are always a security risk; we should not be encouraging this. There will be others, and I would be among them, who would say the more people that we can encourage to leave Russia, the more acute [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s shortage of manpower will be — not just for the armed forces, but also for the military industrial complex.” 

“I think the fact that Russia has brought some thousands of North Korean troops to the battlefield is an indication that the manpower shortage is really starting to bite. But certainly, you’ll have to scrutinize these people quite closely to make sure that you aren’t importing Russian special forces disguised as deserters,” Bond told VOA.

It’s not clear if France intends to allow more Russian deserters to enter the country and claim asylum. The French foreign ministry did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

Since fleeing Russia, deserter Alexander and Irina have created a YouTube channel aimed at other Russian soldiers.

“Maybe with the help of this YouTube channel, the soldiers who have already taken this step, who have left their unit, Russia, the conflict zone, will be able to pass on these ideas to those who are still there, who are at a crossroads, who decide to flee or stay,” Irina said.

Sergei, another of the Russian deserters permitted to enter France, said Russian soldiers always have a choice.

“There is always a possibility to lay down your arms, not to kill other people and to end your participation in this war,” the 27-year-old told AFP.   Thousands of Russians, including soldiers, have fled their country to seek asylum in the West since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, although only a fraction of asylum applications has been approved. However, in a landmark case, France has allowed several Russian army deserters to enter the country to seek refugee status. Anti-war activists hope it will prompt more Russian soldiers to flee.

Alexander, who does not want to give his family name for fear of political retaliation, is among the six Russian men and four of their partners permitted to enter France in recent months. He and his wife, Irina, are now living in the French city of Caen as they await a court decision on their asylum applications.

In January 2022, as Russia was preparing its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alexander recounted that he was told to go to Russian-occupied Crimea for military exercises. He did not want to go — but was told he had no choice.

Instead, his unit crossed the border into Ukraine as part of the invasion force. 

“I was personally in shock; I didn’t understand what was happening,” Alexander told Agence France-Presse in an interview. “We had just crossed the border into Ukraine. I went to see my commander and asked him: ‘What’s going on? Why are we here? Why have we crossed the border? Why are we on the territory of another country?’ … I didn’t get any answers to my questions.”

Alexander eventually managed to flee the army. “I realized then that I only had two choices: either leave Russia or go to prison. Because going back to the front — I didn’t have the slightest desire, nor the moral possibility,” he said.

“Maybe, thanks to my example, someone will be inspired and want to quit the army. The weaker the army at the front is, the fewer people there are, the quicker the war will end and Ukraine will win,” the 26-year-old told AFP.

Alexander and Irina initially fled to Kazakhstan, where they connected with other Russians escaping the war. However, many Russian exiles say they don’t feel safe in former Soviet countries. Army deserters face 10 years or more in prison if caught and returned to Russia. 

A French court ruled in 2023 that Russians who refuse to fight can claim refugee status, but most are not able to travel abroad to lodge an asylum application, said Ian Bond, a Russia expert and deputy director of the Centre for European Reform.

“It’s relatively easy for Russians still to get to countries in the former Soviet Union. Russians have two passports — they have an internal passport and some have a foreign passport. Particularly for people of military age or active servicemen, even getting their hands on a foreign passport is extremely difficult,” Bond told VOA.

But France granted permission for Alexander and Irina, along with eight other Russians, to enter the country and apply for asylum. It’s believed they arrived in Paris on separate flights from Kazakhstan without passports or travel documents, although the exact details of their journeys have not been released.

“There are a number of ways in which they could have gotten to France, and I think they’re not the first Russian deserters to get asylum in the West. But this seems to be a larger group — rather than in the past [when] I think there have just been some scattered individuals,” said analyst Bond.

The decision followed months of advocacy and campaigning by organizations like Paris-based Russie-Libertes, which encourage Russians to desert the army. The groups say the deserters were meticulously vetted for their anti-war stance.

Olga Prokopieva, the head of Russie-Libertes, said France’s decision to allow the group of army deserters into the country was “unprecedented” and urged other European countries to follow suit. “It has taken us a year of talks. We have tried so many things,” she told Agence France-Presse.

However, Prokopieva told VOA via email on October 29 that Russie-Libertes would no longer be commenting on or publicizing the case, an indication of the sensitivity of the asylum applications.

Get Lost, a Georgia-based organization that helps Russians flee their country, claims to have aided more than 38,000 people, including thousands of soldiers. It also helped Alexander and Irina, along with the eight other Russians allowed to enter France.

Many European nations will have security concerns, said Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform.

“There will be some, maybe in eastern Europe, who will say Russians are always a security risk; we should not be encouraging this. There will be others, and I would be among them, who would say the more people that we can encourage to leave Russia, the more acute [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s shortage of manpower will be — not just for the armed forces, but also for the military industrial complex.” 

“I think the fact that Russia has brought some thousands of North Korean troops to the battlefield is an indication that the manpower shortage is really starting to bite. But certainly, you’ll have to scrutinize these people quite closely to make sure that you aren’t importing Russian special forces disguised as deserters,” Bond told VOA.

It’s not clear if France intends to allow more Russian deserters to enter the country and claim asylum. The French foreign ministry did not respond to VOA requests for comment.

Since fleeing Russia, deserter Alexander and Irina have created a YouTube channel aimed at other Russian soldiers.

“Maybe with the help of this YouTube channel, the soldiers who have already taken this step, who have left their unit, Russia, the conflict zone, will be able to pass on these ideas to those who are still there, who are at a crossroads, who decide to flee or stay,” Irina said.

Sergei, another of the Russian deserters permitted to enter France, said Russian soldiers always have a choice.

“There is always a possibility to lay down your arms, not to kill other people and to end your participation in this war,” the 27-year-old told AFP.  

За інформацією південнокорейської розвідки, перші військові з КНДР, які прибули до Росії ще на початку жовтня, належать до елітного 11-го армійського корпусу північнокорейської армії

Officials in Ukraine’s capital said Wednesday a Russian drone attack left at least nine people injured.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram an 11-year-old girl was among those hurt when debris from a downed drone hit an apartment building.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air defenses destroyed Russian drones that attacked the city from multiple directions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones deployed in overnight attacks.

The intercepts took place over the Rostov, Kursk, Smolensk, Oryol, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, the ministry said.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram there was damage to electrical lines, while officials in Kursk reported a fire at an administrative building.

North Korea

The Pentagon said Tuesday a “small number” of North Korean troops have deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, where they are likely to be used in combat against Ukrainian troops.

“[There are] indications that there’s already a small number that are actually in the Kursk Oblast, with a couple thousand more that are either almost there or due to arrive imminently,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.

“We remain concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Kursk,” he added.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense said that North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to train in Russia, more than tripling the previous estimate, and warned that those forces would likely augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks.

The Pentagon has “no information” to corroborate reports that North Korean troops are also inside Ukraine, according to Ryder.

Asked by VOA whether Ukraine should strike back against North Korean forces, President Joe Biden replied, “If they cross into Ukraine, yes.” 

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia “poses a significant security threat to the international community.” 

The comments at a Cabinet meeting in Seoul followed Yoon saying Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to the battlefield in Ukraine could happen “more quickly than anticipated,” according to South Korean intelligence assessments.

NATO on Monday had confirmed that 3,000 North Korean troops had been sent to Russia with some deployed to Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian troops invaded the border region in a surprise attack in August and still hold territory there. 

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rutte added that more than 600,000 Russian forces have been killed or wounded since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

The Pentagon did not provide further details on the type of troops or equipment that North Korea had sent with them. When pressed by VOA Monday on what capabilities these troops could bring, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said, “It’s additional bodies on the battlefield.” 

“If we see DPRK troops moving in and towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war,” she warned. 

Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance since Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin initially dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment as “fake news,” but Putin last week did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia, adding that it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defense security pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. 

At odds with Putin’s comments, a North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York last week characterized the reports of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops in Russia as “groundless rumors.” 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-Hyun, on Wednesday at the Pentagon, where the two are expected to discuss the North Korean troops who are now in Russia. 

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

A significant fire remains ongoing at BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, northwest England, that builds Britain’s new generation of nuclear submarines, but there was no nuclear risk from the incident, police said on Wednesday.

UK’s Cumbria police said in a statement that two people had been taken to a hospital after suffering from suspected smoke inhalation and that there were no other casualties.

The police said that everyone else had been evacuated from the Devonshire Dock Hall facility and accounted for.

BAE’s site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, manufactures Royal Navy’s Astute and Dreadnought submarines, according to BAE’s website.

The incident was reported at 12:44 am local time, police said.

BAE did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Police have advised residents nearby to remain indoors.

washington — Investigations into the death in Russian custody of Viktoria Roshchyna are being hampered by Moscow’s refusal to return the body of the 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist.

Ukraine earlier this month announced that Roshchyna had died in Russian custody on September 19. She had been due to be returned as part of a prisoner release.

Petro Yatsenko, from the Ukrainian Coordination Center for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said that Roshchyna’s body was supposed to be repatriated on October 18, according to a letter that Roshchyna’s father received from Russia’s Defense Ministry. It remains unclear why her body was not included in that exchange.

Roshchyna’s death is “something that happened to a Ukrainian journalist in Russia, by Russian authorities. So all the keys to understanding what happened are in Russia’s hands. And there’s obviously very little hope that Russia will even wish to show even a little bit of the truth,” Karol Luczka told VOA.

Luczka, who monitors Eastern Europe at the International Press Institute in Vienna, said it is “inexplicable and just appalling” that Russian authorities have not released the body.

Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 during a reporting trip to a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine. Moscow did not acknowledge that she was detained until about eight months after her disappearance. 

Andriy Yusov, from Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, confirmed earlier this month that Roshchyna had been slated for a prisoner release. Some reports indicate that Roshchyna died while being transferred from a detention center in Taganrog, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, to Moscow in preparation for her return home.

Russia’s Washington embassy, Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry did not reply to VOA’s emails requesting comment for this story.

A freelance journalist, Roshchyna contributed to Ukrainian outlets including Ukrainska Pravda. She also freelanced for the Ukrainian Service of VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Colleagues remembered her as a journalist committed to reporting on war crimes in Russia’s war against Ukraine, even in dangerous regions.

In 2022, Roshchyna was briefly detained by Russian forces while reporting in Berdiansk, in occupied southeastern Ukraine.

That experience didn’t deter her from continuing to report in Russian-occupied regions.

When Moscow confirmed that Roshchyna was in Russian custody, it was a relief for her supporters, including Elisa Lees Munoz. The executive director of the International Women’s Media Foundation, or IWMF, said the news confirmed that Roshchyna was at least still alive and that there was hope that she would be released.

“Unfortunately, that hope vanished when we learned of her passing,” Munoz told VOA.

The IWMF awarded Roshchyna its 2022 courage award. When the IWMF invited Roshchyna to the U.S. to accept the award in person, Roshchyna declined, saying she needed to stay in Ukraine to keep reporting, Munoz said.

Press freedom groups are calling for Moscow to make public the circumstances of Roshchyna’s death.

Figuring out how Roshchyna died will be difficult without her body, according to Arnaud Froger, the head of investigations at Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, in Paris.

“Without the body, there are only assumptions that we can make,” Froger told VOA. He added that he wouldn’t trust any Russian medical records or autopsy reports without an independent examination of the body.

RSF is investigating Roshchyna’s death to figure out what happened and who was involved. With travel to Russia not possible due to security concerns, RSF is left to push Moscow to release Roshchyna’s body and search for witnesses, Froger said.

United Nations experts are calling for accountability in Roshchyna’s case, as well as the release of her body.

Munoz says she isn’t very hopeful about long-term accountability in Roshchyna’s case. 

Without an autopsy, Munoz said it will be difficult to determine whether Roshchyna was killed, or whether she died as a result of poor prison conditions.

“Regardless of whether she died of so-called ‘natural causes,’ it was obviously a result of her captivity,” Munoz said. “I would say that she was killed.”

Thousands of Russians, including soldiers, have sought asylum in the West since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — though only a fraction of their applications have been approved. This month, however, France allowed several Russian army deserters to enter the country to seek refugee status. Henry Ridgwell reports.

Візит відбувся на тлі повідомлень про те, що тисячі північнокорейських військовослужбовців направляються до кордону Росії з Україною.

Madrid — Torrential rains caused by a cold front moving across southeastern Spain flooded roads and towns on Tuesday, prompting authorities in the worst-hit areas to advise citizens to stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel. 

Spain’s state weather agency AEMET declared a red alert in the eastern Valencia region and the second-highest level of alert in parts of Andalusia in the south, where a train derailed due to the heavy rainfall, although no one was injured. 

Footage showed firefighters rescuing trapped drivers amid heavy rain in the Valencian town of Alzira and flooded streets with stuck cars. 

Scientists say extreme weather events are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Meteorologists believe the warming of the Mediterranean, which increases water evaporation, plays a key role in making torrential rains more severe. 

AEMET expected Valencia to take the brunt of the storm, with forecasts of more than 90 mm of rain in less than one hour, or 180 mm in under 12 hours. 

Schools, courthouses and other essential services were suspended in Carlet and some other nearby towns in the Valencia region. 

Local emergency services requested the help of UME, a military unit specialized in rescue operations, in the area of Utiel-Requena, where farmers’ association ASAJA said the storm was causing significant damage to crops. 

The storm first struck Andalusia. In El Ejido, a Mediterranean city known for its sprawling greenhouses, a hailstorm broke hundreds of car windscreens, flooded the streets and damaged the mostly plastic greenhouse infrastructure. 

In Alora, also in Andalusia, the Guadalorce river overflowed and 14 people there had to be rescued by firefighters, authorities said. Alora topped AEMET’s ranking on Tuesday with 160 mm of rainfall.

BERLIN — Thousands of German workers launched nationwide strikes to press for higher wages on Tuesday, compounding problems for companies worried about staying globally competitive as high costs, weak exports and foreign rivals chip away at their strengths. 

The strikes by unionized workers in the nearly 4-million strong electrical engineering and metal industries hit companies such as Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. 

Also this week, car giant Volkswagen could announce plans to shut three plants on home soil for the first time in its 87-year history, as well as mass layoffs and 10% wage cuts for workers who keep their jobs. 

A worsening business outlook in Europe’s largest economy has piled pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s rickety coalition government, which could be on the verge of collapse ahead of federal elections next year as policy cracks widen. 

Scholz hosted a meeting with business leaders on Tuesday, including Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume, to discuss strategies for bolstering Germany’s industrial sector. 

The three-hour closed-door meeting in Berlin was aimed at exploring policy measures to drive growth, protect industrial jobs, and reinforce Germany’s position as a global industrial hub, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement. 

The talks mark the beginning of a broader initiative by the German government, with follow-up discussions planned for Nov. 15, Hebestreit added. 

In a sign of government dysfunction, his finance minister has also announced a separate summit on the same day. 

Germany has a long history of so-called “warning strikes” during wage negotiations, but they come at a time of employers’ deepening concerns about the future. A leading business group said a survey of companies pointed to Germany experiencing another year of economic contraction in 2024 and no prospect of growth next year. 

“We are not just dealing with a cyclical, but a stubborn structural crisis in Germany,” said Martin Wansleben, managing director of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry that conducted the survey. 

“We are greatly concerned about how much Germany is becoming an economic burden for Europe and can no longer fulfill its role as an economic workhorse,” he said. 

A separate survey by the VDA auto industry association suggested the transformation of the German car industry could lead to 186,000 job losses by 2035, of which roughly a quarter have already occurred. 

“Europe — especially Germany — is losing more and more international competitiveness,” said the VDA report, which also stated that German companies paid up to three times more for electricity than their U.S. or Chinese rivals, while facing higher taxes and increasing bureaucratic burdens. 

Workers want share 

The International Monetary Fund joined those calling for reforms in Germany, suggesting the government ditch a constitutionally enshrined borrowing cap known as the debt brake so it can boost investment.  

While the debt brake is supported by Finance Minister Christian Lindner, he is at odds with Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who has called for a multibillion-euro fund to stimulate growth. 

“The economic policy debate is where it belongs: right at the top of the agenda,” Lindner said on X. “We have no time to lose.” 

The meetings with Lindner and Scholz have prompted companies and industry associations to air their gripes. The chemicals lobby VCI lamented “poor framework conditions” and high energy costs faced by its members, and called on Scholz to make “groundbreaking decisions” to unleash competitiveness. 

Reinhold von Eben-Worlee, from the association of family-run companies, compared the plight of Germany’s Mittelstand firms to a marathon runner weighed down by a heavy rucksack of high taxes and social security contributions, and red tape. 

Tuesday’s strikes were orchestrated by the powerful IG Metall union, which also staged a walkout during the night shift at Volkswagen’s plant in the city of Osnabrueck, where workers worry the site may be shutting down. 

Approximately 71,000 workers participated in Tuesday’s strike, impacting around 370 companies across Germany, according to a spokesperson for IG Metall. 

Berlin — Germany has recalled its ambassador to Iran over the reported execution of German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to voice Berlin’s protest against the killing, the German foreign office said on Tuesday.

“We have sent our strongest protest against the actions of the Iranian regime & reserve the right to take further action,” the foreign ministry said in a post on X.

Germany’s ambassador in Tehran demarched to the Iranian foreign minister and protested in the strongest possible terms the murder of Jamshid Sharmahd, the post said, adding that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock subsequently recalled the ambassador to Berlin for consultations.

Iran executed Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd after he was convicted of carrying out terrorist attacks, Iranian state media said on Monday.

Sharmahd, who also holds U.S. residency, was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of “corruption on earth,” a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.

He was accused by Iran of heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country.

His daughter Gazelle Sharmahd, also on X, demanded proof for his execution and called for the immediate return of her father.

 

London — Adidas has reached an out-of-court settlement with rapper Ye to end all legal proceedings between them, the sportswear brand said on Tuesday, adding that no money changed hands in the agreement.

Adidas and Ye had been embroiled in multiple lawsuits for the past two years, since the German company ended a partnership with the rapper previously known as Kanye West over antisemitic comments he made.

“There isn’t any more open issues, and there is no… money going either way, and we both move on,” CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters on a conference call, declining to give further details of the deal.

“There were tensions on many issues, and… when you put the claims on the right side and you put the claims on the left side, both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims,” Gulden added.

 

state department — Top diplomatic and military officials from the United States and South Korea are set to convene in Washington this Thursday as the two allies closely monitor and express concerns about North Korea’s deployment of about 10,000 troops to Russia.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials and analysts say that China could be displeased by Russia’s growing influence over North Korea, and that if Beijing chose, it could restrict exports of materials that Pyongyang might use for munitions production.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will co-host South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun to coordinate on pressing security threats facing the alliance.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told VOA during Monday’s briefing that high on the agenda would be discussion of “North Korea’s expanding relationship with Russia,” which includes the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia;  various other provocative actions by North Korea in recent months; and the U.S. commitment to security in the Indo-Pacific region.

The consultation between Washington and Seoul will come two weeks after establishment of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group formed by the United States, South Korea, Japan and other allies to better coordinate enforcement of sanctions against North Korea.

The group said that while “the path to dialogue” with North Korea remained open, it was committed to “safeguard the global nonproliferation regime and address the threat arising from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s [DPRK, North Korea’s official name] weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

Some analysts suggest that by sending troops to support Russia’s war on Ukraine, North Korea may gain an opportunity to test the effectiveness of its ballistic missiles and munitions.

“We have communicated with the PRC about this matter to make clear that we are concerned about it, and that they ought to be concerned about this destabilizing action by two of its neighbors, Russia and North Korea,” Miller added. He was referring to People’s Republic of China.

Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that while China has been supportive of Russia’s war in Ukraine, North Korea’s involvement introduces an unsettling dynamic.

“For one,” Cha said, “China does not like Russia to have so much influence over North Korea.”

Cha added that Beijing could take specific actions, such as curbing exports of petroleum coke to North Korea, which can be used in munitions production.

“According to recent public reports, imports of this good [used for steel production] have dramatically increased while overall trade has only slowly started to return to normal,” he said.

Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Austin would also meet with his South Korean counterpart Wednesday, when he will host Kim at the Pentagon for the 56th U.S.-ROK Security Consultative Meeting. ROK refers to South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report.

PENTAGON — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia “poses a significant security threat to the international community.”

The comments at a Cabinet meeting in Seoul followed Yoon saying Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to the battlefield in Ukraine could happen “more quickly than anticipated,” according to South Korean intelligence assessments.

The U.S. Defense Department said Monday that North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to train in Russia, more than tripling the previous estimate. 

 

“We believe that the DPRK has sent around 10,000 soldiers in total to train in eastern Russia that will probably augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at the Pentagon, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name. 

“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk oblast, near the border with Ukraine,” she added.

Earlier on Monday, NATO confirmed that 3,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to help Moscow fight its war against Ukraine and have also been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv’s forces invaded in a surprise attack in August and still hold territory.

“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation of intelligence and military officials. 

The NATO secretary general said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rutte added that more than 600,000 Russian forces have been killed or wounded since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Pentagon did not provide further details on the type of troops or equipment that North Korea had sent with their troops. When pressed by VOA on what types of capabilities these troops could bring, Singh said, “It’s additional bodies on the battlefield.”

“If we see DPRK troops moving in and towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war,” she warned.

Russia and North Korea have boosted their political and military alliance since Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Gen. David Allvin, the chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force, told VOA Friday at a Military Reporters and Editors conference that increased cooperation between the two malign actors is “certainly a cause for more consideration and investigation.”

The Kremlin had dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment as “fake news.” But Putin last week did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia and said that it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defense security pact he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.

At odds with Putin’s comments, a North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York last week characterized the reports of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops in Russia as “groundless rumors.” 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-Hyun, on Wednesday at the Pentagon, where the two are expected to discuss the North Korean troops who are now in Russia.

Drone warfare 

Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that Russian aerial attacks killed at least four people in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram the attack destroyed two houses and damaged about 20 others.

Russian attacks overnight also targeted Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, injuring at least six people, according to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration.

Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said falling debris from a downed Russian drone ignited a fire at a residential building.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, officials said a Russian rocket attack killed one person.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday it shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over the Belgorod region, two over Bryansk, two over Kursk and one over the Black Sea.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram the Ukrainian attack damaged several residential buildings.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

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