NATO has confirmed that North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia and are stationed in the western Kursk region of the country, which neighbours Ukraine.
In his statement on Monday, October 28th, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: “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.”
The information was shared with NATO by South Korean intelligence.
Rutte emphasised that North Korea’s involvement represents a significant escalation by Russia and is a dangerous expansion of the war.
The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security. It undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and fuels the Russian war against Ukraine.
Rutte added that Pyongyang has already supplied Russia with millions of rounds of ammunition and ballistic missiles, and in exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin is providing North Korea with military technology and other support to circumvent international sanctions.
The secretary general did not give out more details, but U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said last week that approximately 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been sent to Russia, possibly with the intent to support Russian forces on the Ukrainian battlefield.
Ukraine’s Western allies are not the only ones who have expressed their concern over the move. South Korea said last week that it might start providing Ukraine with lethal and offensive weaponry to help fight the emerging Moscow-Pyongyang axis on the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a “strong response” from all international partners, saying that the conflict should not be allowed to go global by “another state joining the war against Ukraine.” He said his government had information that some 10,000 troops from North Korea were being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country.
If this is true, it would undeniably expand and escalate the war.
Responding to Mark Rutte’s statement on Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Western military instructors have already been covertly deployed to Ukraine to help its military use long-range weapons provided by Western partners. Lavrov stopped short of confirming North Korean soldiers were in Russia.
