U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday there is evidence North Korea has sent troops to Russia, and South Korea's intelligence chief told lawmakers that 3,000 North Korean troops remain in the country and will be sent to the battlefield in Ukraine. He said he had previously received training in drones and other equipment.
“What the hell are they doing? We'll just wait and see. These are things we need to sort out,” Austin told reporters during a visit to Rome, according to a video posted by The Washington Post. According to.
Austin said it would be a “very serious problem” if the military were to join Russia in the Ukraine war, adding that it would have implications for Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.
South Korean intelligence agencies first published reports that the Russian navy brought 1,500 North Korean special warfare troops to Russia this month, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier said that 10,000 North Korean soldiers The government said it had information that it was preparing to join the invading Russian army.
Although the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had not previously formally confirmed reports that North Korea was sending troops, they have warned of the dangers of such a deployment if true. Russia and North Korea have so far denied any troop movements.
According to Rep. Park Seung-won, who attended Cho's private press conference, Cho Tae-yong, director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers on Wednesday that another 1,500 North Korean troops had entered Russia.
Park told reporters that Cho told lawmakers that authorities assess that North Korea aims to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December. .
President Park quoted Cho as saying that 3,000 North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia are being trained at multiple military bases. According to Park, Cho told lawmakers that he believes the National Intelligence Service has not yet been deployed in combat.
Rep. Lee Sung-geun, who spoke jointly with President Park about the NIS press conference, said that the NIS has discovered that the Russian military is currently teaching North Korean soldiers how to use military equipment such as drones. said.
Mr. Lee quoted the Director of the National Intelligence Service as saying that Russian instructors highly praise the morale and physical strength of North Korean soldiers, but a lack of understanding of modern warfare means that they end up suffering serious injuries. He was quoted as saying that he thought it would be. Mr. Lee, citing Mr. Cho, said that Russia is recruiting a large number of interpreters.
Lee said the NIS detected signs that North Korea was moving the families of soldiers selected for deployment to Russia to special isolation locations.
The director of the National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that North Korea has not disclosed to its own people about its troop dispatch. However, there are rumors that the news is being spread among local residents, including residents whose loved ones have been assigned tours to Russia, Lee said, citing the National Intelligence Service.
Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine Kirillo Budanov told the online military news agency The War Zone that North Korean troops will arrive in Russia's Kursk region today to support Russian forces in repelling the invasion of Ukraine.
North Korea and Russia, embroiled in separate conflicts with the West, have rapidly increased cooperation over the past two years.
In June, the two countries signed a major defense pact that obliges them to provide immediate military support by any means necessary if either side is attacked.
The NIS announced last week that North Korea has sent more than 13,000 containers containing artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpile.
Reports that North Korea is sending troops to Russia have fueled security concerns in South Korea.
South Korean officials are concerned that Russia may provide North Korea with advanced weapons technology in return that could strengthen North Korea's nuclear and missile programs targeting South Korea.
South Korea announced on Tuesday that it would consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to reports that North Korea was sending troops.
South Korea provides humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine, but has so far avoided directly supplying arms to Ukraine in line with its policy of not supplying weapons to countries in active conflict. .
North Korea has 1.2 million troops, one of the world's largest standing armies, but has not been involved in a major conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Many experts doubt how much the North Korean military will assist Russia, citing a lack of combat experience.
They say North Korea hopes to get Russia's economic aid and help modernize North Korea's outdated conventional weapons systems and transfer technology for high-tech weapons.
