South Korean intelligence says North is sending troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine: reports

Intelligence suggests that North Korea has sent 12,000 troops, including special operations forces, to support Russia. , Photo courtesy: Reuters

News reports said Friday that South Korean intelligence has discovered that North Korea has sent 12,000 troops, including special operations forces, to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, a development that could bring a third country into the war. And could escalate the standoff between North Korea and. West.

Yonhap news agency quoted the National Intelligence Service as saying that the North had already left the country organized into four brigades. Other South Korean media outlets also published similar reports.

If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first major involvement in a foreign war. North Korea has 1.2 million troops, one of the largest armies in the world, but lacks real combat experience.

Many experts question how much sending North Korean troops would help Russia, citing North Korea’s outdated equipment and lack of combat experience.

Experts also said North Korea is likely to receive Russian promises to provide security assistance should North Korea intensify confrontation with the US and South Korea over its growing nuclear program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin sign an agreement during a meeting in Pyongyang in June agreement determining mutual military assistance If either country is attacked, it is considered to be the biggest defense deal between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

The NIS did not immediately confirm the report, but South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement that President Yoon Suk Yeol had chaired an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss sending North Korean troops to Ukraine. The statement said participants in the meeting agreed that sending North Korean troops poses a serious security threat to South Korea and the international community.

But the presidential office did not provide any further details about when or how many North Korean troops have been sent to Ukraine or what role they are expected to play.

Russia has denied using North Korean troops in combat, according to Russian media, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the claims “another piece of fake news” during a press conference last week.

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Koreans were among those killed after a Ukrainian missile strike in the partially captured eastern Donetsk region on October 3.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke The government has intelligence 10,000 North Korean soldiers are being prepared to join Russian forces fighting against his country, with warnings that a third country joining the hostilities could escalate the conflict into a “world war”.

“From our intelligence we have information that North Korea has sent strategic personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters at NATO headquarters. “They are preparing 10,000 troops on their own soil, but they have not already transferred them to Ukraine or Russia.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the Western alliance had “no evidence that North Korean troops were involved in the fighting.” But we know that North Korea is supporting Russia in many ways to support its war effort, weapons supplies, technological supplies, innovation. And this is extremely worrying.”

The US, South Korea and their partners have accused North Korea of ​​providing artillery shells, missiles and other equipment to Russia to fuel the war against Ukraine.

In return, North Korea likely received much-needed food and economic aid and technology assistance aimed at upgrading Kim’s nuclear-armed military, outside officials and experts say. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly denied the existence of an arms deal between the countries.