North Korea has sent troops to Russia, and they have already been deployed in Kursk Oblast, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Oct. 28 after meeting South Korean defense and intelligence officials.
Rutte joined other Western leaders in confirming reports by Kyiv and Seoul that Pyongyang is sending military personnel to Russia in a sign of deepening cooperation between the two countries.
"Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region," the NATO secretary general said in Brussels.
This comes as the secretary general's first official confirmation of North Korean troops arriving in Russia to aid the country's war in Ukraine.
The South Korean delegation also briefed the North Atlantic Council and representatives from Japan, Australia, and New Zealand on the North Korean involvement in Russia's war.
The U.S. said on Oct. 26 that North Korean troops are being dispatched to Kursk Oblast, a Russian border region facing a Ukrainian offensive. While the White House did specify in what capacity they would be deployed, Ukraine and South Korea said that at least some North Korean troops would be used in combat.
Rutte commented that the deployment represents "a significant escalation in (North Korea's) ongoing involvement in Russia's illegal war" and a "dangerous expansion of Russia's war."
Previously, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) said that Russia is preparing to deploy 12,000 North Korean soldiers, including 500 officers and three generals. The spy agency said already on Oct. 24 that the first units had been deployed in Kursk Oblast, a claim at the time unconfirmed by Western officials.
Russia and North Korea have initially dismissed the reports but recently turned to more evasive rhetoric as evidence of the troops' dispatch mounted.
"The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security. It undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and fuels the Russian war against Ukraine," Rutte said.
"North Korean troops are already in the Kursk region. This is exactly as we discussed, and as South Korea confirmed. Now, our allies and NATO can see it," Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, commented on social media.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the first North Korean troops were to be deployed in the combat zone on Oct. 27 or 28.
"(Russia is) increasingly engaging North Korea as an ally, and any day now, their soldiers may appear on the battlefield fighting against Ukraine," Zelensky said. "Ukraine will be forced to actually fight against North Korea in Europe."
Chris York
