North Korea will send “massive troops” to support Russia in its war against Ukraine

North Korea: South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Friday that North Korea had made the decision to deploy “large-scale troops” to aid Russia in its conflict with Ukraine, citing Seoul’s intelligence service.

Yonhap said that the National Intelligence Service had discovered that the North had just made the decision to commit four brigades, totaling 12,000 troops, including special forces, to the conflict in Ukraine. The information was not confirmed by the NIS to AFP. Yonhap was informed by a NIS source that “the movement of North Korean troops has already begun.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, said on Thursday that he had received intelligence information indicating North Korea was preparing 10,000 troops to help Russia in its conflict with Kiev. Following his discussion with NATO defense ministers, Zelensky said, “They are preparing on their land, 10,000 soldiers, but they didn’t move them already to Ukraine or to Russia.”

Zelensky said that because many young Russians are trying to evade conscription, Russia is depending on North Korean forces to make up for its significant losses. President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea called an emergency security meeting on Friday in response to Pyongyang’s action. The strong military connections between North Korea and Russia were reported to have extended “beyond the transfer of military supplies to actual troop deployments” during the summit.

The president’s office released a statement stating that this revelation presents “a significant security threat not only to our country but also to the international community.” Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pyongyang and Moscow have become closer friends. Seoul and Washington have long claimed that Kim Jong Un has been supplying weaponry to be used in Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea’s formation during World War II.

During a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense pact, igniting rumors of more armament shipments that would have violated many UN sanctions against both nations. Six North Korean military officials were killed on October 3 in a Ukrainian missile assault on a Russian-occupied area close to Donetsk, according to reports from Ukrainian media earlier this month.

Kim Yong-hyun, Seoul’s defense minister, said MPs at the time that the report’s veracity was “highly likely.” Experts said that the next obvious step was to go from arming troops with shells to Russia. Professor Lim Eul-chul of Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said, “It’s crucial for North Korea to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience since North Korea has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles.”

“This could potentially be the primary motivation for dispatching North Korean soldiers—tto furnish them with varied encounters and combat readiness training,” he informed AFP.