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full screen South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol warns of the North Korean soldiers sent to Russia. Archive image. Photo: Jeon Heon-Kyun/AP/TT
South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol warns that the North Korean soldiers sent to Russia pose a global threat and that the rest of the world must now prepare countermeasures.
– This illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a significant security threat to the international community and could pose a serious risk to our national security, says the president.
North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine in the coming weeks, the US Defense Department said on Monday.
Several of them are already in place in the Russian border region of Kursk, where Ukraine launched an offensive in August, according to NATO.
– We must carefully examine all possibilities and prepare countermeasures, says Yoon.
On Tuesday, the closed country’s news agency said the North Korean foreign minister will visit Moscow.
Earlier this summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea and signed a partnership agreement with the country’s dictator Kim Jong-Un. Among other things, the agreement stipulates that if either party is attacked or goes to war, the other must assist militarily “in every possible way”.
North Korea has previously delivered significant amounts of weapons to Russia, including grenades and robots.