About 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces have held a small slice of Russian border territory for nearly three months, U.S. defense officials said Wednesday.
The North Korean force is heading for one of the most symbolically resonant parts of the 600-mile line separating Ukrainian and Russian troops. In a surprise attack in August, Kyiv captured some 500 square miles of Russian territory. The sortie was provided a major morale boost for Ukrainian forces who have been forced to give ground in recent months elsewhere along the front.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many North Korean troops were moving toward the front lines, but they are thought to be part of a deployment of about 10,000 soldiers sent to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
Meeting reporters at the Pentagon after high-level talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said the deployment amounted to a “war crime” and an effort by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to cement his hold on power.
“Kim Jong-un didn’t hesitate to sell out his young people and troops as cannon fodder [and] mercenaries,” the South Korean minister said. “We call for Kim Jong-un to immediately withdraw his troops.”
Mr. Austin said at the same briefing that it was likely that the North Korean troops would eventually be used in combat against Ukrainian troops. Seoul and Washington have been nervously tracking the unprecedented deployment of North Korean forces and how they might affect the war that began in February 2022.
“These deeply concerning developments only underscore the importance of our alliance with [South Korea] and other allies and partners committed to shared security and prosperity,” Mr. Austin said. “Turning to pariah states like North Korea just underscores how much trouble [Mr. Putin] is in.”
South Korea’s Mr. Kim and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul are in Washington this week for this year’s “2 plus 2” meetings with Secretary Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A Ukrainian official on Wednesday told The Associated Press that North Korean military personnel are about 30 miles away from Russia’s border with Ukraine. While the North Korean troop deployment could increase security threats in Korea, South Korean officials said it’s unlikely the move would trigger a greater war on the peninsula.
“In exchange for the deployment, North Korea is very likely to ask for technology transfers in diverse areas, including the technologies related to tactical nuclear weapons [and] their advancement of ICBMs,” Mr. Kim said at the Pentagon.
Pyongyang will also expect Russian assistance to upgrade their reconnaissance satellites and submarines along with other aging equipment that needs to be updated or replaced.
Russian and North Korean officials still have not officially confirmed the troop agreement, although both sides have suggested any accord will be a legal bilateral agreement between two sovereign states.
Vasily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, accused the Biden administration and its Western allies of “disinformation” at a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday, denying North Korean troops were on the front lines in the war.
“These statements about the North Korean soldiers in our front should not surprise no one, because they’re all barefaced lies,” Mr. Nebenzia said.
Mr. Austin argued that the use of North Korean troops is a sign the war is not going well for Mr. Putin.
“They’re doing this because Putin has lost a lot of troops. He has the choice of either getting other people to help him or he can mobilize,” Mr. Austin said. “He doesn’t want to mobilize because all of the people in Russia will understand the extent of his losses.”
He said Mr. Putin going hat-in-hand for weapons from pariah states like North Korea and Iran underscores how much trouble he is in.
“We take this very seriously [an] we urge the Kremlin to change course,” Mr. Austin said.
North Korean troops deployed to Russia could find themselves on the front lines. If that happens, they would be considered belligerents in the war and could face possible attacks by Ukrainian soldiers using American weapons, Mr. Austin said.
“Ukrainian soldiers have the right to defend themselves, and they will do that with the weapons that we and others have provided,” he said.
The war itself grinds on as the role of the North Korean contingent is being clarified: Russian defense officials said this week they had taken control of Selydove, a mining town in the eastern Donetsk region, and Ukraine’s Air Force said the country faced a barrage of more than 60 armed Russian drones overnight that targeted Kyiv and other major cities.
— This article was based in part on wire service dispatches.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.