US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC on October 31, 2024. Blinken and Austin are meeting with their South Korean counterparts for a 2+2 diplomatic and defense meeting. , Photo courtesy: AFP
The United States said on Thursday that up to 8,000 North Korean soldiers have reached the border of Russia The region is trained and ready for war with Ukraine, as tensions escalated days before Pyongyang fired a long-range missile. American elections.
Seeking leverage in his aggressive invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has brought in troops and military hardware from North Korea, the first time Russia has invited foreign forces onto its soil in more than a century.
Citing US intelligence, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said about 8,000 of the 10,000 North Korean troops believed to be present in Russia have made their way to the Kursk border area.
“We have not yet seen these troops deployed into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that in the coming days,” Blinken said at a news conference after four-way talks with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and South Korean foreigners. “It will happen.” Defense Minister.
Russia is training North Korean troops to handle artillery and drones and to clear trenches, Blinken said, “demonstrating that they fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations.”
Austin said the deployment of North Korean troops, who he said were being dressed in Russian uniforms, “underscores how badly Putin’s war has gone.”
Austin said, “This 10,000 will not come close to compensating the numbers that the Russians have lost.”
He warned: “Make no mistake, if these North Korean troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they will find themselves legitimate military targets.”
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said North Korea was in desperate need of cash and estimated it had sent Russia more than 1,000 missiles as well as millions of munitions.
Advances in Missile Technology
South Korea, which previously said the North was preparing a missile or nuclear test ahead of Tuesday’s US election, said Pyongyang appeared to have fired a solid-propellant long-range ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers. (621 miles).
Developing advanced solid-fuel missiles – faster to launch and harder to detect and destroy – has long been a goal of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
According to the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim called the sanctions-breaking launch “a reasonable military action that fully serves the purpose of informing adversaries about our willingness to retaliate.”
Japan said the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) flew longer than any missile previously tested by the North, staying in the air for about 86 minutes and hitting an altitude of 7,000 kilometers.
Theoretically the missile could strike the United States mainland, although Washington said the test-firing posed no threat.
Blinken and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts discussed the launch in a joint telephone call and later issued a statement urging North Korea to cease its “provocative and destabilizing actions.”
China, historically North Korea’s closest ally, said it was “concerned about developments” and urged a “political solution” to the issue.
Blinken said the United States recently had “robust” talks with China over American concerns about North Korea.
ukraine outrage
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to South Korean media, condemned his allies’ inaction on North Korean troops and said he was surprised by China’s “silence”.
Zelensky said, “I think the reaction to this has been nothing; it’s been zero.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha, who is visiting Canada, called North Korean troops “a real escalation of this war” and in response urged Western partners to “lift all sanctions” on Russia firing long-range missiles.
Explained. What’s behind the Russia-North Korea security agreement?
Austin later said that the United States would soon announce new military support to Ukraine. South Korea, for its part, is evaluating whether to send arms directly to Ukraine, breaking its long-standing policy against sending weapons to active conflicts.
Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said, “North Korea’s missile launch appears to be designed to deflect international criticism of its military deployment.”
Austin said there is no evidence that Russia provided technology for the ICBM.
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said the test was also an effort to “get the world’s attention ahead of the US presidential election.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday alleged that Kim and Putin are supporting his rival Donald Trump because it is easy to trick them with flattery and favoritism.
Trump met with long-isolated Kim three times, an unusually personal style of diplomacy that eased tensions but failed to reach a lasting agreement.
North Korea has denied sending troops to Russia, but in his first comments to state media last week, its deputy foreign minister said that if such a deployment were to occur, it would be in line with international law.
published – November 01, 2024 03:35 AM IST