South Korea’s presidential office announced that President Yoon Suk-yeol held phone talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday.
Yoon told Rutte that South Korea’s intelligence agency confirmed that North Korea dispatched about 1,500 special forces troops to Russia and the soldiers are undergoing training there.
Yoon said military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is threatening the peace of the Korean Peninsula and the world, and that his government will never stand by and let it happen.
Yoon agreed to promptly send a delegation to NATO to share more detailed information at Rutte’s request. He also pledged to strengthen security cooperation with NATO.
Rutte later wrote in a post on X that, “North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine would mark a significant escalation.”