NATO chief says N. Korean troops in Russia – DW – 10/28/2024

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday told a media briefing there were North Korean troops in Russia.

“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to
the Kursk region,” Rutte told reporters.Ukrainian forces had launched launched in August a major offensive and captured territory in the southern Russian region.

The deployment of North Korean troops there represents a “significant escalation” in Pyongyang’s involvement in conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war,” Rutte added.

“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte said after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation.

Rutte also pointed to Russia’s battlefield losses and said this was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support,” Rutte said.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appeared to shrugg off Rutte’s comments, noting a joint security pact last signed by Moscow and Pyongyang in June.

Lavrov stopped short of confirming North Korean soldiers were in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said he had arrived in Iceland to discuss the Russian invasion with the leaders of several Nordic states.

“This marks my first working visit to Iceland, where I will participate in the Fourth Ukraine-Nordic Summit and hold bilateral talks with its participants,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. 

Zelenskyy also said discussions would center around support for his “victory plan” to end the war on Ukraine’s terms. The leaders will also address areas where “cooperation can yield maximum results,” he added. 

He highlighted the financing of Ukrianian weapons production and long-range and training and equipment for Ukrianian forces among other talking points.

“The Nordic countries are our principled and resolute allies, and the Ukraine-Nordic Platform stands as one of our most productive multilateral formats,” Zelenskyy said.

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have pledged billions of euros in aid to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

South Korea‘s President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to battlefields in Ukraine could happen sooner than expected.

Yoon made the comments in a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The comments also come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korean troops could join the battlefield against Ukraine “in a matter of days.”

“This unlawful military cooperation between Russia and North Korea fundamentally undermines the rules-based international order and poses a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and globally,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted Yoon as saying.

Yoon said Seoul was hoping to seek “practical countermeasures” with the EU and member states, and would redouble efforts to monitor and block “illegal exchanges” between Russia and North Korea.

kb/dj (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)