The United States said for the first time on Tuesday that North Korean soldiers are now actively fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.
"Today I can confirm that over 10,000 DPRK soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces," Vedant Patel, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, told a regular briefing. He was referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
Patel said Washington is "incredibly concerned" about the development, which came barely a month after a South Korean intelligence report said Russian navy ships had loaded tens of thousands of North Korean troops and delivered them to training camps in Russia's Far East.
"Russian forces have trained the DPRK soldiers in artillery, in UAV and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, which are critical skills for front-line operations," Patel said. "However, Russia's battlefield success using these DPRK troops will in large part be dictated by how well the Russians can integrate them into their military."
Unfamiliarity with Russian weapons systems and the existing chain of command, as well as a possible language barrier are among the likely challenges facing Russia-North Korea cooperation on the battlefield, the official said.
North Korea's embassy in Beijing and Russia's foreign ministry could not be reached for comment.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has for weeks said that North Korea's entry would signal a serious escalation of the almost three-year conflict, which otherwise shows no signs of slowing down.
Kyiv's appeared to achieve a tactical surprise in August when it redeployed forces from eastern Ukraine, away from Russia's main offensive, to launch a cross-border raid on the Kursk region. Now, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Moscow and Pyongyang have jointly amassed some 50,000 ground forces to retake the Russian territory.
Pyongyang and Moscow have not openly confirmed that North Korean troops are aiding Russia's war effort. However, the parliaments of both capitals have ratified a mutual defense pact signed in June by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The accord, which calls for immediate military aid in the event of an attack on either party, is seen from the outside as the main justification for the North Korean deployment.
Pyongyang's only other treaty ally is Beijing, but China has remained largely silent on Kim's decision to join the first major foreign conflict in North Korea's history.
On Wednesday, South Korea's National Intelligence Service issued its own confirmation, saying North Korean troops had spent the past two weeks moving to Russia's Kursk region.
The South Korean foreign ministry said Seoul would respond to the North's deployment, but it is yet to announce any concrete actions. A senior ministry official told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that President Yoon Suk Yeol's government would coordinate with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
English (US) ·