According to South Korea’s intelligence agency, North Korean troops have been deployed to fight alongside Russia against Ukraine.
In a press release on its website, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said the Russian Pacific Fleet escorted about 1,500 North Korean special forces troops to Vladivostok, Russia, among other places, between October 8th and October 13th. According to the NIS, the troops are now in Russia undergoing training.
“The North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia are currently stationed at Russian military bases in the Far East, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk, and Blagoveshchensk, and are expected to be deployed to the front lines as soon as they complete their adaptation training,” said the NIS in the press release.
The NIS posted satellite imagery of Russian nave ship movements near North Korea to back their intelligence. They also posted photos of the military facilities in Russia and of North Korean weaponry seized by Ukrainian forces. The NIS also says that the North Korean special forces troops have been given Russian military uniforms, Russian weapons, and ID cards, stating that they hail from Yakutia and Buryatia, two regions in Siberia.
“It appears that they disguised themselves as Russian soldiers to hide the fact that they were deployed to the battlefield,” said the NIS.
The press release from the NIS is the most overarching evidence of North Korean involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. If NIS claims are true, then this would be the first time North Korean troops, and the country of North Korea in general, has been involved in a major war.
A first for North Korean troops
North Korea hasn’t been involved in a war since the Korean War in the 1950s, and it is the first time they have been involved in a significant war outside of their borders.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, previously said that Ukrainian intelligence found that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to enter the war on Russia’s side. When speaking to reporters in Brussels, Belgium, President Zelenskyy said, “This is the first step to a world war.”
“Russia seriously escalates its aggression by involving DPRK (North Korea) on a war party scale,” said Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister. “We require an immediate and strong reaction from the Euro-Atlantic community and the world.”
Indeed, the involvement of North Korean troops in a major war for the first time is a troubling signal that the war is escalating to dangerous levels that could eventually mean the involvement of other countries.
Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, said that they haven’t confirmed whether or not South Korea’s intelligence on the movement of North Korean troops to Russia is accurate.
