BRUSSELS/SEOUL — North Korean troops are confirmed to have been deployed to the Russian region of Kursk, which borders Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday.
Rutte spoke to reporters after NATO was briefed by a South Korean delegation in Brussels, in a meeting also attended by representatives from Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He called the deployment a “significant escalation” of Pyongyang’s involvement in the conflict and called on both North Korea and Moscow to withdraw the troops immediately.