The United States confirms that North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia to fight in Ukraine –

The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd J. Austin IIIhas confirmed that North Korea has sent troops to Russia to join the Russian forces fighting the war with UkraineUS media reported this Wednesday.

In statements made during a visit to a military base in Italia, Austin rated the presence of North Korea in Russia as a “very serious” escalation that would have consequences both in Europa as in Asia.

“What exactly are they doing?” he said. Austin to journalists at a military base in Italia. “It remains to be seen.”

The defense secretary did not provide details on the number of troops already there or the number expected to arrive, but his confirmation comes after US intelligence officials have announced that they are preparing to release a large amount of information, including satellite photographs, which show troop ships moving from North Korea to training areas in Vladivostokon the east coast of Russiaand other Russian territories further north.

Seoul believes there are already 3,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia

According to US officials, North Korean soldiers have so far not reached Ukraine.

However, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) South Korean estimates that Pionyang has already sent some 3,000 soldiers to Russian territory, where they are theoretically preparing to be transferred to the front in Ukraine.

This information, which has been shared with Members of the Parliamentary Intelligence Committee, indicates that some 10,000 soldiers could be deployed in Ukraine by December, without offering more information in this regard.

Already on Friday, his own NIS revealed that it planned to send some 12,000 troops, including a unit of the Special Forcesa figure that is close to what was also said by Kiev.

Of the total number of troops, some 1,500 troops would already be in bases in the Russian Far East, receiving training, as well as weapons, uniforms and Russian identity cards.

South Korean intelligence considers that after the first transport of those 1,500 soldiers, which took place between October 8 and 13, new transfers have been made that have practically doubled the number of North Korean troops on Russian soil.

One of the parliamentarians on the committee who was informed by the director of the committee himself NIS has assured that “it provided fairly well-founded information indicating that around 10,000 men will be deployed” for the month of December in Ukraineaccording to statements collected by the agency Yonhap.

Association pact between Moscow and Pyongyang

This information has been called “hoaxes by Moscow and “absurd comments” by Pionyang.

South Korea considers, like many experts, that the sending of troops is based on the strategic partnership pact that Pionyang y Moscow signed in June and which calls for providing mutual assistance in the event that one of the two countries is attacked, a scenario that would have opened after the raids of Ukraine in the Russian regions of Belgorod y Kursk. EFE