Photo : YONHAP News / AP Photo
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says he can confirm that North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk, Russia.
The NATO chief conveyed the information to reporters Monday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels after receiving a briefing from a visiting South Korean delegation led by Hong Jang-won, the deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.
Rutte said he and the South Korean delegation discussed ways to boost military support to Ukraine.
NATO is actively discussing developments concerning the North Korean troops with Ukraine and with NATO’s Indo-Pacific partners, he added.
He called their deployment a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, a significant escalation in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and a dangerous expansion of the conflict.
Rutte added that he plans to talk with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov over the phone later in the afternoon.
The NATO chief called on Pyongyang to immediately halt the deployment of troops, saying closer military cooperation between North Korea and Russia presents a security threat to both the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic regions.