Oct. 19 (UPI) — Ukrainian officials, including Kyiv’s top diplomat, and South Korea’s intelligence agency say North Korea is deploying thousands of troops to help Russia with its war against Ukraine.
“North Korea is aiding Russian aggression against Ukraine with weapons and personnel,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Friday on social media. “Not Mercenaries. Regular units, which Moscow plans to use as cannon fodder.”
Calling the plans a “serious escalation” of the war, Sybiha said, “The Euro-Atlantic community must wake up to the fact that DPRK invades Europe alongside Russia and act without delay.”
The South Korea National Intelligence Service, meanwhile, reported Friday it has confirmed North Korea will deploy about 12,000 soldiers to Russia to support its war in Ukraine and already has sent troops to Russia.
“They will be ready on Nov. 1,” Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate leader Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with U.S. defense news and analysis website The War Zone published Thursday.
The North Korean troops will use Russian equipment and ammunition with 2,600 headed for the Kursk region, he claimed.
The government-run Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security also shared with CNN a video purporting to show North Korean soldiers lined up to receive Russian military uniforms.
The center also provided with a copy of a questionnaire written in Russian at the top and listing sizing for shoes, hats, uniforms and headgear written in Korean.
The North Korean troops are being taken to Russia aboard Russian Navy transport vessels and began the deployment Oct. 8 through Sunday, the agency said, claiming about 1,500 North Korean troops were transported to the Russian port of Vladivostok aboard three Russian escort vessels and four amphibious landing ships.
The troops are among North Korea’s best and are deployed in Vladivostok, Ussuriiysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk while wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian weapons while being integrated into Russian military units, the NIS reported.
The agency also claimed the North Korean troops are being issued local identifications to try to hide their deployment in Russia and that Moscow intends to deploy them the front lines in Ukraine after their training.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Pyongyang June and signed a treaty that includes providing mutual defense.
The Kyiv Independent on Saturday cited unconfirmed reports indicating a recent Ukrainian missile strike in a Russian-occupied area killed North Korean officers.
U.S. and Ukraine officials also say North Korea began supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and artillery shells about a year ago.