NATO chief Mark Rutte said Monday that North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Kursk, the Russian region where Ukrainian forces seized territory in a surprise attack over the summer.
The United States said last week that at least 3,000 North Korean personnel were undergoing combat training in Russia, though it was not yet clear if they would join the war. The U.S. announcement, which officials said was based on newly declassified intelligence, followed similar disclosures from Kyiv and Seoul.
“Today I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region,” Rutte told reporters, describing it as an escalation in North Korea’s “growing involvement” in Russia’s war and a “dangerous expansion” of the conflict. The move means North Korean troops could now be in direct combat with Ukrainian forces.
He made the comments after South Korean intelligence and military officials visited NATO headquarters on Monday to brief the defense alliance, as well as officials from Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Rutte said NATO countries also shared their intelligence assessments.
“Pyongyang has already supplied Russia with millions of rounds of ammunition and ballistic missiles that are fueling a major conflict in the heart of Europe,” Rutte added. In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin was providing North Korea with military technology and “other support to circumvent international sanctions,” he said.
Putin appeared to obliquely acknowledge the presence of North Korean troops in Russia last week and cited the article on mutual defense in the two countries’ new security treaty.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said condemnations from Western leaders about Russian-North Korean cooperation were “an attempt in retrospect” to justify their own military support to Ukraine.
“The treaty is not secret. It is open,” he said, adding that “it implies, among other things, assisting each other in case one of the countries participating in the treaty is militarily attacked.”
Ukrainian officials have accused North Korea of preparing to send as many as 10,000 troops to fight on Russia’s side and have said some advisers are already on the front lines. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said this month that at least 1,500 North Korean special operations troops were training in Russia, and later estimated that an additional 1,500 troops had entered the country.
For Kyiv, such a deployment would further complicate an already tense battlefield, where Ukrainian forces have suffered new setbacks – including ceding up to half of the territory Kyiv seized during its cross-border offensive into Kursk this summer, analysts say.
Ukrainian officials had hailed the Kursk attack as a success that could give them leverage, but its results have been unclear, and recent Russian counterattacks have cast doubt on how long Kyiv will be able to keep holding ground.
A Ukrainian security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said North Korea’s role in the conflict now meant “the Russians will have an additional source of human power.”
“It means they will have less pressure on society and it’s cheaper as well,” the official said. “It’s really bad.” Putin has so far avoided another major mobilization of personnel in Russia for the war which could have a negative impact on the popularity of the government.
(c) Washington Post
During the era of Biden, we see the working of such alliances such as the axis that includes Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. And without a_ strong moral compass amongst US officials, we see where this is going. We now have soldiers from the Atheist dictatorship of North Korea aiding Russia. Iran has been colluding with Russia for years now.
You’re parroting fake news and have no clue what’s really happening. In the age of information IGNORANCE IS A CHOICE.