WASHINGTON DC: Most of the North Korean troops sent to Russia are now deployed near the Ukrainian border and are expected to join the fight against Ukraine “in the coming days,” according to top U.S. and South Korean diplomats and military officials.
“We now assess that there are some 10,000 North Korean soldiers in total in Russia, and the most recent information indicates that as many as 8,000 of those North Korean forces have been deployed to the Kursk region,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.
Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin co-hosted South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun in Washington on Thursday to discuss pressing security threats as they closely monitor North Korea’s deployment of thousands of troops to Russia.
“Our assessment is that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s forces have trained these North Korean soldiers in artillery operations, UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] operations and basic infantry operations,” Austin said during a joint press conference.
He also noted that Putin has provided the North Korean troops with Russian “uniforms and equipment,” and “all of that strongly indicates that Russia intends to use these foreign forces in front-line operations in its war of choice against Ukraine,” Austin added.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, over half a million Russian troops have been killed or wounded, according to U.S. officials. Facing an estimated 1,200 casualties daily, Russia is now turning to North Korea, a pariah state, to bolster its forces.
While Russia has used foreign volunteers and mercenaries in the Ukraine war, the current deployment marks the first time in 100 years that Russia has invited regular forces of another nation onto its soil. Should these North Korean troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they would become legitimate military targets, U.S. officials said.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is in talks with North Korea to deploy a “large number of civilians” to work at Russian weapons production facilities. Zelenskyy said he plans to discuss air defense assistance with South Korea.
(VOA)
Comment