We aren't sure whether to believe it, and it seems not to have been reported elsewhere, but the pro-opposition Syria Mirror website on July 20 says that activists and eye-witnesses have "confirmed" that five buses full of fully armed North Korean soldiers were seen in Damascus, heading towards Jobar and Eastern Ghouta—two suburbs that have been the scene of fierce fighting for months. The account claims Bashar Assad has long maintained a sort of Praetorian Guard of North Korean troops in a special unit dubbed "Tshulima"—supposedly named for a mythical winged horse, although we can find no reference to either the unit or the mythical beast online. The report also notes longstanding claims of North Korean involvement in the Assad dictatorship's nuclear program.
Iran is now pretty clearly a part of the Great Power convergence against ISIS, and may be given a free hand in Syria in exchange for its efforts against the jihadists in Iraq. But North Korea…? That would be a far greater political leap—and not only for the world powers, but for the DPRK itself. Letting its citizens out, to be potentially contaminated with foreign ideas, even if under military control? We await further information on these claims.
