According to South Korea’s spy agency, North Korea has begun sending troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine, with Seoul warning of a “grave security threat”.
This allegation is coming a day after Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky claimed he believed 10,000 North Korean soldiers could join the war, based on intelligence information.
Following this revelation, the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, called for a security meeting on Friday, saying the international community needed to respond with “all available means”.
The spy agency further revealed that 1,500 troops have already arrived in Russia but anonymous sources have informed South Korean media that the final figure could be nearer to 12,000.
Recently, evidence surfaced that North Korea was supplying Russia with ammunition. This was further demonstrated by the recovery of a missile in Ukraine’s Poltava region.
Additionally, Moscow and Pyongyang have also noticeably deepened their cooperation in recent months, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un felicitating with Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday, calling him his closest comrade.
Meanwhile, Friday’s security meeting was attended by key officials from South Korea’s National Security Office, the Ministry of National Defence, and the National Intelligence Service, according to Yoon’s office which added:
“[The participants] decided not to ignore the situation and to jointly respond to it with the international community using all available means.”
The Ukrainian military intelligence sources had apparently raised an alarm of this development first when they said that Russia’s army is forming a unit of North Koreans.
Seoul’s spy agency had in addition to the tip off, released aerial photographs of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk (where they say hundreds of North Korean troops have gathered), and another photo of North Korea’s Chongjin port, where a Russian ship was reportedly shown conveying North Korean soldiers.
The NIS also revealed how North Korea has sent 13,000 shipping containers carrying shells, missiles, and anti-armour rockets to Russia since August.
“As many as eight million 122-mm and 152-mm shells have been supplied to Russia,” NIS added.
Some military experts have however, opined that the Russian military units will have difficulties assimilating North Korean troops into their frontlines.
“Apart from the language barrier, the North Korean army has no recent experience of combat operations,” they said.
