Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday thanked North Korea for sending troops to fight alongside Russia in the Moscow war with Ukraine, vowing not to forget their sacrifices.
Putin’s comments come hours after the first confirmed that North Korea had deployed its troops to fight Ukrainian forces.
Two days ago, Russia said it had completely regained the Kursk region, which was seized by Ukrainian forces last year. Ukrainian officials denied the Russian claims and said operations were ongoing in certain areas of Kursk.
In a statement, Putin praised the North Korean troops who said they had fought “along with Russian fighters, defending our homeland as their own.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for sending troops to fight alongside Russia in the Moscow war with Ukraine. (Sputnik/Kristina Kormilityna/Kremlin byReuters)
“The Russians will never forget the heroes of the DPRK special forces,” Putin said. “We always honor the hero who gave life for Russia, as we fight alongside our Russian brothers for the freedom of Russia.”
North Korea’s Central Military Commission said that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un will send troops to Russia to “annihilate and wipe out Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupations and work with the Russian troops to liberate the Kursk region.” The North Korean forces ultimately made a “significant contribution” to Russia’s seizing border territory, the committee said.
This was the first official confirmation that North Korea had its troops deployed to Russia, but it repeatedly expressed unwavering support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Intelligence spokesman for the US, South Korea and Ukraine said North Korea deployed troops of 10,000 to 12,000 people in Russia, the first involvement in a major armed conflict since the Korean War in the early 1950s.
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Putin promised he would not forget the sacrifices of North Korean troops sent to help Russia fight the Ukrainian forces. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Putin and Kim said the deployment of the North Korean forces took place under the mutual defense treaty signed in June 2024.
The two US enemies have been getting much closer to each other in recent years.
In addition to deploying its military, North Korea supplies Russia with a large number of traditional weapons. South Korea and the US are concerned that Russia can be rewarded with military and economic support, including transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can strengthen its nuclear weapons programme.
According to Moon Song Mook, an analyst at the National Strategic Institute at the Seoul-based Korea Institute, the role of North Korea in Russia in the arrival of Russia is urgently hoping that his urgent desire to receive what he wants from Russia by regaining control of the Kursk region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia can provide military aid to North Korea as needed in accordance with the defense treaty, Russian national media reported.
The deployment of the North Korean military took place under the mutual defense treaty signed in June 2024. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin Reuters/File Photo)
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North Korea and Russia did not reveal how many North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, or how many casualties they suffered. However, last month, South Korean troops rated about 4,000 North Korean soldiers being killed or wounded in the Russian-Ukraine War. South Korean troops also said North Korea sent around 3,000 additional troops to Russia earlier this year.
South Korea’s Ministry of Unification on Monday called on North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia immediately, claiming that Northern support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would result in a serious provocation to international security. Ministry spokesman Koo Byoungsam called the deployment of the Northern army an “action against humanity.”
If regeneration of Russia’s Kursk is confirmed, Ukraine will take away major leverage in the US mediated efforts to negotiate the end of the war by exchanging interests with Russian-occupied lands in some of Ukraine.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he suspected Putin wanted to end the war. Just a day ago, Trump said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to the deal.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
