North Korea has decided to send a \u201clarge-scale\u201d troop deployment to support Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia\u2019s Far East and undergoing training, Seoul\u2019s spy agency said on Friday. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said North Korea had decided to send thousands of soldiers to help Russia, releasing detailed satellite images it said showed the first deployment. South Korea\u2019s President Yoon Suk Yeol convened an emergency security meeting Friday, with Seoul slamming Pyongyang\u2019s move as \u201ca significant security threat not only to our country but also to the international community,\u201d the president\u2019s office said. The NIS said it had \u201cdetected that from the 8th to the 13th (of October), North Korea transported its special forces to Russia via a Russian Navy transport ship, confirming the start of North Korea\u2019s military participation\u201d in Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. According to the NIS, multiple Russian landing ships and frigates have already completed transporting the first contingent of troops, who are currently stationed in military bases across Russia\u2019s Far East. This handout from South Korea\u2019s National Intelligence Service released on October 18 shows a satellite image by Airbus Defence and Space of Russia\u2019s Ussuriysk military facility, where the intelligence service said North Korean personnel were gathered within the training ground on October 16. \u2014 AFPThe special forces soldiers \u201care expected to be deployed to the front lines (of the Ukraine conflict) as soon as they complete acclimatisation training,\u201d it said. The soldiers have been issued Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons, the NIS said. \u201cThis seems to be an effort to disguise the fact that they are North Korean troops by making them appear as Russian soldiers,\u201d NIS added. More troops are likely to be sent soon, NIS said, adding that it estimated the North could send around 12,000 soldiers in total. \u201cA second transport operation is expected to take place soon,\u201d it said. Artillery shells, missiles Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea\u2019s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Seoul and Washington long claiming that Kim Jong Un has been sending weapons for use in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, with the two countries signing a mutual defence treaty, fuelling speculations of further arms transfers \u2014 which violate rafts of UN sanctions on both countries. The NIS said Friday that the North had \u201cprovided Russia with more than 13,000 containers\u2019 worth of artillery shells, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons\u201d since last August. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday flagged intelligence reports saying North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its fight against Kyiv. Zelensky suggested that Russia is relying on North Korean troops to compensate for its substantial losses, as many young Russians seek to avoid conscription. Earlier this month, Ukrainian media reported that six North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk on October 3. Seoul\u2019s defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told lawmakers at the time that it was \u201chighly likely\u201d that the report was true. Experts said that moving from supplying shells to soldiers to Russia was the logical next step. \u201cFor North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it\u2019s crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience,\u201d said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul\u2019s Institute for Far Eastern Studies. \u201cThis might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers \u2014 to provide them with diverse experiences and wartime training,\u201d he told AFP. \u2018Nato cannot yet confirm North Korea is sending troops to Russia\u2019 Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Friday that the alliance could not yet confirm South Korean intelligence that North Korea was deploying troops to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine. \u201cAt this moment, our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are actively now as soldiers engaged in the war effort,\u201d Rutte told reporters following a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels. \u201cBut this, of course, might change,\u201d he said. Rutte said Nato was \u201cin close contact\u201d with its partners, particularly South Korea, which was taking part in this week\u2019s talks as part of the so-called Indo-Pacific four, along with Australia, Japan and New Zealand. \u201cWe will certainly have that conversation with them to get all the evidence on the table,\u201d said the Nato chief. \u201cEven if North Korea is not physically there at the battlefield then still, they are helping to fuel Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine in every way they can,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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