The United States is “concerned” by reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia in Ukraine, a White House spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week accused North Korea of transferring 10,000 personnel to Russia’s armed forces, saying his intelligence agencies had briefed him on “the actual involvement of North Korea in the war” in Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine, if true, would mark a significant increase in the North Korea-Russia defence relationship.
“Such a move would also indicate a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues to suffer significant casualties on the battlefield in its brutal war against Ukraine,” Savett said in a statement.
Washington says North Korea has supplied Russia with ballistic missiles and ammunition. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties, possibly including joint drills.
The U.S. Army’s Indo-Pacific commander, General Charles Flynn, told an event in Washington that North Korean personnel being involved in the conflict would allow Pyongyang to get real-time feedback on its weapons, something that had not been possible in the past.
“That’s different because they are providing capabilities and – open source reporting – there’s manpower that is also over there,” he said at the Center for a New American Security.
“That kind of feedback from a real battlefield to North Korea to be able to make adjustments to their weapons, their ammunition, their capabilities, and even their people – to me, is very concerning,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when he visited Pyongyang in June. Putin said it included a mutual assistance clause under which each side agreed to help the other repel external aggression.
North Korean Deserting Front Line
Some 18 North Korean soldiers are believed to have deserted the Russian frontline, with Kremlin fighters reportedly searching for them.
The troops were deployed in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, about four miles from the border with Ukraine, when they deserted, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine, Suspilne, reported.
Intelligence officials cited by the broadcaster said the Russian military is searching for the North Korean soldiers, while commanders are trying to conceal the desertion from their higher-ups.
It comes after reports that Moscow was planning to assemble a battalion of troops sent over by Kim Jong Un to help push Ukraine’s forces out of Kursk.
North Korean soldiers were set to form a “special Buryat battalion,” named after the Mongolic ethnic group indigenous to the region spanning Siberia as well as northern Mongolia and China, sources quoted by LIGA said.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been developing their relationship for some time now, pledging earlier this year to provide aid to one another if attacked.
Last week, South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said: “As Russia and North Korea have signed a mutual treaty akin to a military alliance, the possibility of such a deployment is highly likely.”
He said recent reports about North Korean troop casualties, reported by Ukrainian media the week before, were likely to be true, while speaking to lawmakers during a parliamentary audit, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
© 2024, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.