“Unfounded rumors”, according to Pyongyang: North Korea denied on Monday October 21 providing troops to Russia which could be mobilized in the conflict in Ukraine. “Regarding the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel the need to comment on these baseless stereotypical rumors,” a North Korean representative told a session of the General Assembly of the held at the end of the day Monday in New York. Seoul’s claims “are aimed at smearing the image of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and undermining the legitimate, friendly and cooperative relations between two sovereign states,” he added.
South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul earlier today to demand the “immediate” withdrawal of soldiers sent, according to Seoul, by Pyongyang to support Moscow in its war against Ukraine, according to the South Korean ministry of Foreign Affairs. The latter “stressed that cooperation between Russia and North Korea […] is not directed against the security interests of South Korea.
Neither NATO nor the United States confirmed the deployment, but both said if the reports were true it would be a potentially dangerous escalation in the Ukrainian conflict. Some 1,500 North Korean special forces troops are already in Russia acclimatizing and are expected to head to the front soon, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Friday, expecting some more to be sent. 12,000 soldiers in total. In its report, the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) also published detailed satellite images showing, according to it, the first deployment of these soldiers.
South Korea considers ‘countermeasures’
On Tuesday, Seoul “strongly condemned” North Korea, demanding the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops. “North Korea, which has supplied Russia with large-scale military weapons and sent troops to participate in Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine, poses a significant threat to the security of not only our country, but also of the international community,” declared the National Security Council. The South Korean government “demands the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops and states that if the current military alliance between North Korea and Russia continues, it will not stand idly by.” “In response to the development of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea after the deployment of North Korean combat troops, the government will gradually implement countermeasures,” the same source added.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday that Seoul was considering sending a delegation to Ukraine, comprising military intelligence personnel, to monitor the deployment of North Korean troops, citing a government source.
While relations between Pyongyang and Seoul are at their lowest point in decades, nuclear-armed North Korea has moved even closer to Russia, an ally of the North Korean regime since its creation after the Second World War. worldwide. South Korea and the United States have long claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sends weapons to Russia that are used in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, during which the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty. Details of the treaty have not been released, fueling speculation about further arms transfers, which violate UN sanctions against Russia and North Korea.