North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia who could join Moscow's fight in Ukraine in the "next several weeks", the Pentagon said amid rising concerns over Pyongyong's involvement in Vladimir Putin's war.
The soldiers were believed to be heading for the border region of Kursk, where Moscow recently suffered defeats and has been struggling to push back Ukrainian troops, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Sigh said on Monday.
On Tuesday, South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the country’s spy agency, said some high-ranking North Korean military officials and troops deployed to Russia might move to the frontline.
The lawmakers did not give any timetable but the comments come as NATO confirmed Pyongyang’s dispatch of troops to Russia. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte officially confirmed reports that North Korean military units were already in the Kursk region.
South Korea and the US have raised alarms over North Korea sending troops to join the Russian war on Ukraine so that Russia may offer technology in return that could advance the threat posed by Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programme.
Last week South Korea’s spy chief told lawmakers that 3,000 North Korean troops are being trained to use equipment including drones before being they're sent to fight in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang initially denied the allegations but later adopted a vaguer stance, asserting that their military cooperation conforms with international law. The Russian president sidestepped the question about the North deploying troops, saying: "This is our sovereign decision."
"Whether we use it or not, where, how, or whether we engage in exercises, training, or transfer some experience. It’s our business," Mr Putin told reporters.
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, in telephone calls with EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Rutte, shared South Korean intelligence assessments that North Korean troops could be deployed to battlefronts "more quickly than anticipated".
He called for closer coordination with European governments aimed at "monitoring and blocking" illegal exchanges between Pyongyang and Moscow, Mr Yoon's office said in a statement.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky cited intelligence about the preparation of two units with possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops who would take part in the war alongside Russian forces.
Ukraine published a video purportedly showing dozens of North Koreans lining up to collect Russian military fatigues after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Pyongyang had shipped 3000 troops, half of them to Russia's Far East for training.
Ukraine claims Russia has deployed roughly 50,000 troops in the Kursk region, while independent military analysts suggest that Kyiv has deployed nearly 30,000 soldiers, the New York Times reported. The additional North Korean troops could help Russia push Ukrainian soldiers out of the region.
“Given their numbers, it is possible that they will have an impact on the conduct of hostilities in certain areas,” Artem Kholodkevych, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s 61st Mechanized Brigade, told the Times.
The Nato chief told reporters in Brussels that the North Korean deployment represents "a significant escalation" in Pyongyang's involvement in the conflict and "a dangerous expansion of Russia's war".
US president Joe Biden joined the outcry, calling the deployment "very dangerous”.
"If we see DPRK troops moving in towards the front lines, they are co-belligerents in the war," Ms Singh said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea. "This is a calculation that North Korea has to make."
The Ukrainian army has reportedly issued Ukrainian-Korean phrase books for its troops to urge the North Korean troops to surrender, while Russia planned to assign one interpreter for every 30 North Korean soldiers for coordination on the battlefield.
The North is preparing to launch another military satellite with technological help from Russia, the Yonhap news agency reported citing South Korea’s spy agency.
