North Korea has decided to send 12 000 troops to fight on the Russian side in Ukraine, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The agency reports that North Korea has sent close to 1 500 special forces troops to Russia’s city of Vladivostok and will soon send more.
According to the South Korean agency, between the 8th and 13th of October, North Korea, using a Russian navy transport ship moved its special forces to Russia, which confirms the involvement of North Korea in the military conflict.
The agency reports that once their training is complete, North Korean troops will be sent to the front line.
Troops were transported to Russian bases, “including Vladivostok, Usuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk and are expected to be sent to the front lines as soon as they complete their acclimation training,” the agency’s report states.
The agency also claims that North Korean soldiers were issued with Russian army uniforms and forged Russian documents.
On top of that, North Korean missile force officers are already on the front line and are helping Russians use North Korean missiles, South Korea claims.
One day ago Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in Brussels about 10 000 North Korean soldiers that might join the fighting.
About 11 000 of North Korean infantry are currently being trained in eastern Russia to take part in the war in Ukraine, said Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
“They will be ready by the 1st of November,” Budanov said in an interview to The War Zone on Thursday.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held an unscheduled security meeting with key intelligence, military and national security officials on Friday to discuss the involvement of North Korean troops in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the presidential administration reported.
“The meeting [participants] agreed that the current situation, where closer ties between Russia and North Korea have exceeded the movement of military goods, poses a serious threat not only to the security of our country, but also to the international community,” as mentioned in the statement of the South Korean President’s Office.
South Korean officials said it was likely that some of the North Korean’s military personnel were in Russia and engaged in a war with Ukraine.
North Korea and Russia have significantly strengthened their military ties over the past year, and in June, the leaders of the two countries met to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that includes a mutual protection pact.
South Korean and US officials previously reported North Korea has supplied ballistic missiles and other ammunition to Russia.