North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, the US confirms

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has sent troops to Russia, the US said Wednesday, its first public confirmation of a move that has rattled Western allies and could mark a major escalation in Moscow’s war in Ukraine .

“There is evidence of DPRK troops in Russia,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Rome, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“What exactly they’re doing remains to be seen,” Austin said, adding, “We’re trying to get higher fidelity.” It is a “serious problem,” he said, if North Korea’s “intention is to engage in this war on behalf of Russia.”

South Korea and Ukraine have sounded the alarm in recent days, sharing information and expressing dissatisfaction with what they see as a lack of urgency in the response from the US and other Western countries.

The reclusive nature of the Kremlin regime and Kim Jong Un has observers looking to social media video and satellite imagery for confirmation that Russia is deploying troops to Ukraine in what it would be a dramatic new step in the growing alliance between Pyongyang and Pyongyang. Moscow

South Korean lawmakers said on Wednesday that North Korea had sent 3,000 troops to Russia out of the 10,000 promised to be deployed in December. That’s double the 1,500 that South Korea’s intelligence agency had reported had been sent last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that two units of North Korean troops, with up to 6,000 people each, were training for deployment.

“This is a challenge, but we know how to respond to this challenge. It is important that partners do not hide from this challenge as well,” he said in his evening video address.

Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told US publication The War Zone that North Korean troops could arrive as early as Wednesday in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August.

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador on Monday to demand the withdrawal of North Korean soldiers and “related cooperation.” South Korea, a US treaty ally that has so far provided only non-lethal aid to Ukraine, now says it is considering providing defensive and even offensive weapons in response.

Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Tuesday that the deployment would “mark a dangerous and deeply troubling development” and that the US was consulting with its allies and partners “about the implications of such a dramatic move.”

Austin had not mentioned the reports during his Monday visit to Kiev, where he met with Zelenskyy and announced $400 million in new military aid.

The United States and other countries say Pyongyang is already supplying Moscow with much-needed munitions, including millions of artillery shells, in exchange for key military technology that could bolster Kim’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Russia and North Korea deny any arms transfer.