Photo : YONHAP News
The White House has confirmed that North Korea deployed troops to Russia.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday during a press briefing that the U.S. assesses that North Korea moved at least three-thousand soldiers into eastern Russia between early- to mid-October.
Kirby said that the U.S. believes that these soldiers traveled by ship to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East and then traveled onward to multiple Russian military training sites in eastern Russia, where they are currently undergoing training.
The White House official said that the U.S. does not yet know whether these soldiers will enter into combat alongside the Russian military, but this is certainly a highly concerning probability.
Kirby added that they could go to western Russian and then engage in combat against Ukraine’s forces.
Earlier in the day, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Italy that there is evidence that North Korea has sent troops to Russia.
His comments were the first public U.S. confirmation of North Korea sending troops to Russia.