The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, assured this Wednesday (10/30/2024) that North Korean troops deployed in Russia have received Russian uniforms and equipment during their training in that country, and noted that Washington and Seoul are closely monitoring that level ” unprecedented” cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
«Some of these troops have already approached Ukraine and we see them equipped with Russian uniforms and Russian material. “I am increasingly concerned that the Kremlin will use these North Korean soldiers to support its combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region,” said Austin, who gave a media briefing alongside his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-hyun.
The Pentagon estimates that North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops by train to eastern Russia. «Whether or not they will be used in the fight remains to be seen, but if they do it is very worrying. I’m not going to speculate on deployment, this is something we will continue to work on with allies and partners to discourage Russia from using these troops in combat. “This is a violation of UN sanctions,” he said.
“Blatant lie”
Austin called on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia. Kim Yong-hyun, meanwhile, pointed out that although he does not believe that the North Korean deployment in Russia will cause “changes in the possibility of a war breaking out on the Korean peninsula,” he does estimate that it could lead to “an escalation of threats to the “security” there, since it is possible that North Korea will receive technology transfers in exchange for aid to Russia.
“Such changes in the North Korean technological situation may lead to an increase in the escalation of security threats on the Korean Peninsula. However, we must keep in mind that, as we have seen in the war between Russia and Ukraine, Russia’s capacity in conventional weapons is not as good as we expected,” he stressed.
Austin said that if North Korean soldiers fight against Ukrainian forces, they have the right to defend themselves. “If they fight alongside Russian soldiers, they are co-belligerents, and there is every reason to believe that they will be killed and wounded as a result,” concluded the Pentagon representative, for whom, although it is not clear that Russia will use these troops, “if There are 10,000 and some are moving towards the Ukrainian border, there is a chance that this will be the case.
For his part, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, described the accusations as “blatant lies that only aim to distract from the really important problems that threaten international peace and security.”
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