Europe 1 by AFP // Photo credit: STR / KCNA VIA KNS / AFP
7:24 pm, October 18, 2024
Certified fellowship. North Korea has decided to send “large numbers of troops” to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, and 1,500 North Korean soldiers are already training in the Russian Far East, South Korean intelligence said. If NATO said it was unable “at this stage” to confirm the alleged use, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andriï Sybiga, posted on X: “North Korea is supporting an attack of Russia against Ukraine with weapons and personnel (…) We ask for a strong and immediate response from the Euro-Atlantic community and the world. He repeatedly called on the West to limit the use of long-range weapons and “capture” Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian territory.
North Korea, Russia’s ally
China, ally of Pyongyang and Moscow, reiterated its hope for “devaluation” in Ukraine. According to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), North Korea they decided to send up to 12,000 troops to help Russia. The NIS released detailed satellite images showing, according to him, the first deployment of these soldiers. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called an emergency meeting on the security situation on Friday.
Pyongyang’s growing support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which “goes beyond the transfer of military equipment and translates into the deployment of troops”, represents “a serious security threat not only to our country but also to the international community,” said the South Korean. president in a statement. In another statement, the NIS explained that it “found that from October 8 to 13 North Korea transported its special forces to Russia in a Russian navy transport ship, confirming the beginning of North Korea’s military involvement “in the war against Ukraine.
Also according to the NIS, several Russian ships and frigates have completed the transport of the first group of North Korean soldiers, who are currently stationed at military bases in the Far East of Russia. It is expected that these soldiers “will be sent to the front lines (of the Ukrainian conflict) as soon as they have completed their acclimatization training,” South Korean intelligence said. Russian,” said the NIS. According to the same source, more North Korean troops are expected to be deployed soon and the North could send a total of 12,000 troops “A second transport operation is expected to take place soon,” said the NIS.
13,000 ships of arms
For British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, if it was confirmed that North Korean troops were in Russia, it would show the “level of desperation” on Moscow’s side “Russia is weakening,” said Keir Starmer, insisted that the allies remained “absolutely committed” to support kyiv. In Paris, the spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Christophe Lemoine believed that “the increase in cross-cooperation and military support from North Korea to the Russian war effort in Ukraine (was) to very worrying”.
As relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have deteriorated in recent months, nuclear-armed North Korea has moved even closer to Russia, an ally of the North Korean regime since its creation. after World War II. South Korea and the United States have long claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is sending weapons used in Ukraine to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in June, during which the two countries signed an undisclosed mutual defense treaty, fueling speculation of further military moves – which will break the sanctions regime which the UN took against Russia and North Korea.
The NIS confirmed on Friday that North Korea had supplied Russia with “the equivalent of more than 13,000 pieces of artillery, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons” since August. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that he had information that North Korea was training about 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its military campaign against Kyiv.
Ukrainian media recently reported that six North Korean servicemen were killed during a Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian-held area near Donetsk (eastern Ukraine) on October 3. Hong Sung-pyo, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Military Affairs, said the North likely views Ukraine “as a conflict from which it can draw valuable information” because “the Korean military North trained mostly on their own”, using “old-fashioned. arms, and lack of foreign experience”.
2024-10-18 21:56:00
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