National Intelligence Service “1,500 North Korean special forces arrive in Vladivostok and join the war… 12,000 troops decided to dispatch”

[앵커]
Our government has confirmed that the North Korean military has decided to send a large number of troops to Ukraine. We decided to send more than 10,000 people, and about 1,000 members of the elite special forces have already been in Vladivostok for adaptation training 10 days ago. North Korea and Russia have been cooperating closely since the Ukraine War, and the decision to send not only weapons but now soldiers is expected to have a significant impact on the international situation.

Our government also took immediate action, but first, reporter Kim Chung-ryeong provides details regarding the dispatch of North Korean troops.

[리포트]
Approximately 400 troops are lined up at a military parade ground in Ussuriysk, in the Russian Far East.

About 240 people were also captured in Khabarovsk.

Using a satellite photo taken the day before yesterday, the National Intelligence Service announced that these were soldiers from the so-called ‘Storm Corps’, North Korea’s elite special operations unit, and that it had officially confirmed the fact that the North Korean military had ‘commenced participation in the war’.

For five days starting on the 8th, four landing ships and three frigates from the Russian Pacific Fleet transported about 1,500 special forces from North Korea’s Chongjin, Hamheung, and Musudan regions to Vladivostok.

A second transport operation is scheduled to take place soon, and large transport aircraft of the Russian Air Force are frequently traveling to and from Pyongyang.

This is the first time that a Russian naval fleet has entered North Korean waters since 1990, and the large-scale deployment of North Korean ground forces abroad is the first time in history.

Lee Young-soo / Air Force Chief of Staff
“We are looking at it seriously. It is an emergency situation for North Korean troops to participate in the war.”

northKorea and Russia signed a treaty at the summit last June that essentially restored the ‘automatic military intervention’ clause.

Kim Jong-un (last June)
“Full support for the struggle of the Russian government, army and people carrying out special military operations (war) in Ukraine.”

The National Intelligence Service said, “The suspicions of direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea raised by overseas media have been officially confirmed.”

This is Kim Chung-ryeong from TV Chosun.