Photo : YONHAP News
The National Intelligence Service(NIS) says North Korea began sending troops in support of Russia’s war effort against Ukraine starting Oct. 8.
In a statement released on Friday, the spy agency said it spotted North Korea transporting its special forces to parts of Russia on board Russian naval vessels between Tuesday and Sunday of last week.
According to the NIS, four landing ships and three convoys of the Russian Pacific Fleet completed transporting some 15-hundred special forces from areas near North Korea’s cities of Chongjin and Hamhung as well as the Musudan coastal cliff to Vladivostok for training and that the troops have been issued Russian identification.
North Korea has never before deployed ground troops of such scale.
The agency said another transfer operation will be carried out very soon.
The last time Russia’s naval fleet entered North Korean waters was in 1990.
Russia’s large transport aircraft, including AN-124s, have also been reported to be flying regularly between Pyongyang and Vladivostok.
The agency believes the deployed North Korean troops have been stationed at Russian units in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, all in the Russian Far East.
They are expected to be sent to the frontline after completing adjustment training.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and troops to Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russia and is preparing to send ten-thousand troops as well.