North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un posing with troops during an inspection at a training base of the Korean People's Army's special operations forces in the western region, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. - AFP
WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said North Korea is sending troops to Russia, creating the "very, very serious” possibility they will be sent into combat in Ukraine.
"Our analysts, they continue to look at this, and we are seeing evidence that there are North Korean troops that have gone to Russia,” Lloyd Austin told reporters while on a trip to Europe. "What exactly they’re doing, well, that’s to be seen.”
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters at the White House Wednesday (Oct 23) that an initial assessment indicates about 3,000 North Koreans are being trained at three sites in Russia.
"It’s too soon to tell what kind of an impact these troops can have” if they are deployed in combat and what North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong-un is getting out of his decision "to literally put skin in the game.”
While Ukraine and South Korea had previously warned of the development, the US hadn’t previously confirmed the troop movements. Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s spokesman, said Monday that such a development would be "dangerous and highly concerning.”
With the North Koreans still in Russia, it’s not certain whether they will join Russian troops in active combat on the front lines in Ukraine or serve as trainers and advisers while gathering intelligence on how weapons provided by North Korea perform in combat.
"If their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf that is a very, very serious issue, and it will have impacts, not only in Europe,” Austin said.
"It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”
Austin said Russian President Vladimir Putin "went tin-cupping early on to get additional weapons and materials” from North Korea and Iran and "now he’s making a move to get more people, if that is the case, if these troops are designed to be a part of the fight in Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told reporters Monday that North Korea may be sending troops to the front "for the money.”
He said North Korean military personnel already have been spotted visiting Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine to understand what’s going on before sending troops.
South Korea’s spy agency, which also believes about 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, predicts a total of 10,000 soldiers will be deployed by December, South Korean lawmakers told reporters after a briefing by the National Intelligence Service. The lawmakers said Russia is expected to give some economic benefit to North Korea in return.
The influx of North Korean troops come as Moscow works to push Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region while maintaining pressure on its front line in Ukraine. Putin would likely face broader domestic pushback if he were to pursue a broader mobilisation of Russian forces. Some Ukrainian officials have said the North Koreans may be deployed to the Kursk region.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, told a Ukrainian broadcaster that Ukrainian military intelligence is tracking the number of the North Korean troops and their routes.
"There is a language barrier, though it won’t prevent from digging trenches for Russians,” Kovalenko said. -Bloomberg
