Pentagon claims North Korea dispatched 10,000 troops to assist Russian combat effort in Ukraine.
The Pentagon has said that, "the next several weeks," an estimated 10,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to train and fight against Ukraine; this greatly increases the estimated number of soldiers dispatched by North Korea and raises concerns about the war in Ukraine widening as a result of Pyongyang's military
From an initial US estimate of 3,000 troops last week, some of the 10,000 North Korean soldiers sent to eastern Russia for training have advanced to the Ukrainian border, Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh said on Monday.
“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast near the border with Ukraine,” Singh told reporters.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said the North Korean military deployment threatened both his country’s national security and the international community, denouncing on Tuesday what he described as “illegal” military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier on Monday that the North Korean deployment represents “a significant escalation” in the Ukraine conflict and was “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war”.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte told reporters after talks with a South Korean delegation about the North Korean deployments.
A North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official did not confirm media reports about a troop deployment to Russia but said if Pyongyang had taken such action, he believed it would be in line with international norms.