Roughly 10,000 North Korea troops are training in Russia and the number could increase, the Pentagon said Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency )
WASHINGTON — There are roughly 10,000 North Korea soldiers now training in eastern Russia and the number of troops could increase, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday.
“We are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, near the border with Ukraine,” Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. “Should [North Korean] soldiers be used on the battlefield, this would mark a further escalation, and highlights [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin’s increasing desperation.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region. Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
His remarks came after a high-level South Korean delegation including top intelligence and military officials as well as senior diplomats briefed the alliance’s 32 national ambassadors at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing intelligence reports, claimed Friday that North Korean troops would be on the battlefield within days.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last Wednesday was the first U.S. official to confirm publicly that North Korea sent troops to Russia.
“If they’re co-belligerents — if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf — that is a very, very serious issue,” Austin said. “It will have impacts, not only in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”
Austin will meet Wednesday at the Pentagon with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Austin on Thursday will co-host Republic of Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Kim.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said last week that the U.S. believes at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers traveled by ship to Vladivostok — Russia’s largest Pacific port — in early to mid-October.
South Korean intelligence officials first publicized reports that the Russian navy had taken 1,500 North Korean special warfare troops to Russia this month.
“The number could rise as Putin’s desperation continues to rise,” Singh said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.