NATO Prime Minister Rutte warned of a “serious escalation” if North Korea's military strengthens Russia's invasion force in Ukraine, raising the risk that third parties will send troops into the conflict. are.
The do-or-die drama of sending North Korean soldiers to war in Ukraine and stepping up Russia's offensive efforts continues with new claims about military strength and warnings from NATO. New North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with South Korean President Yun Seok-Yeol on Monday morning, and the former Dutch prime minister reportedly told South Korea that sending troops to North Korea would violate the sanctions regime.
After the call, Rutte wrote: [President Yoon] About NATO's Close Partnership [with] Seoul, defense industrial cooperation, and the interconnected security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. If North Korea were to send troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, it would signal a significant escalation. ”
Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-gyun also referred to the violation of United Nations resolutions caused by North Korea's deployment, saying it poses a threat to domestic and international security. He said this after a telephone conversation with Rutte Yun on Monday. “We condemn North Korea's illegal military cooperation, including the sending of troops to Russia…We will mobilize all means available to jointly respond with the international community to acts that threaten our nation's core security interests.” said. ”
The presence of a powerful North Korean military in Russia, Ukraine, or both has been widely discussed as a possibility or reality in recent weeks, but these reports have only recently coalesced into a more solid assertion. It's about the day. Still, the exact composition of the force continues to be debated, with 1,500 troops being considered for training in Russia, and an eventual strength of 10,000 or 12,000.
The 12,000 figure is the equivalent of four complete infantry brigades, claimed by South Korea. german news Nippon Television. As part of today's discussions, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) requested a South Korean delegation to visit Europe to assist with intelligence efforts regarding North Korean brigades. The South Korean government announced that it would promptly dispatch a requested delegation and summoned the Russian ambassador to demand the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops.
Russia continues to take a cautious stance, neither truly denying nor confirming the North Korean military's claims. “North Korea is our close neighbor and partner, and we are developing relations in all fields, which is our sovereign right,” government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. We will continue to further develop this cooperation. ”
Last week, it was reliably claimed that North Korean troops arrived in Ukraine and even fought. At the outset, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, “We are looking at the alliance between our two countries.'' [Russia] And regimes like North Korea become more powerful, and it is no longer just about the transfer of arms, but about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupier's army. '' He later reinforced his statement, adding on Friday: “If the world is silent now and we on the front lines confront North Korean soldiers as regularly as we protect ourselves from drones, it will not help anyone in the world and will only prolong it. “This war.''
South Korea itself provided information over the weekend that North Korean troops were definitely involved, releasing a video purporting to show Russian military equipment being provided to Pyongyang soldiers.
