North Korea has sent 1,500 special forces to Russia's Far East for training and also plans to deploy them to Ukraine, South Korea's intelligence agency said Friday.
According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), troops transferred to Vladivostok from October 8 to 13 received Russian military uniforms, weapons, and fake Russian IDs.
Earlier, South Korean President Yun Seok-Yeol convened an emergency meeting to address the growing security threat posed by North Korea's military involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine, Yun's office said.
“The participants…The current situation in which the close relationship between Russia and North Korea extends beyond the transfer of military supplies to the actual dispatch of troops poses a serious security threat not only to Japan but also to the international community. “We shared the view that there is,” the Prime Minister's Office said. said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also accused North Korea of preparing to send another 10,000 soldiers to help Russia, although the NATO chief said there was no evidence at this time. NATO chief Mark Rutte said there was currently no evidence of a North Korean presence.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), in cooperation with Ukrainian intelligence, also used facial recognition artificial intelligence technology to identify a North Korean general who was assisting the Russian military in launching North Korean missiles in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. Announced.
South Korea is under pressure from its Western allies to provide arms to Ukraine, but has refrained from doing so. Military analysts have suggested that the South Korean government's main concern is the possibility of Russia supporting North Korea's missile program.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo of King's College, London, said that despite the significance of the development, it may not be heavy enough to change Seoul's position.
“When it comes to South Korea, I think the line is not for North Korea to support Russia, but for Russia to provide support to North Korea so that North Korea can significantly improve its nuclear and missile programs. '' Pardo said.
Since August 2022, North Korea has supplied Russia with more than 8 million artillery and missile shells.
The special forces deployment would be North Korea's first major military intervention since the 1950-1953 Korean War, although it reportedly sent much smaller forces to the Vietnam War and the Syrian civil war. It is said that he did.
with post wire
