NATO today confirmed North Korean troops are being sent to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, with some personnel already deployed.
After weeks of speculation and a number of Russian denials, secretary general of the western military alliance said some of the soldiers sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to help his ally Vladimir Putin were now on the frontline in Kursk region.
NATO chief Mark Rutte told reporters in Brussels: “Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region.”
Mr Rutte added that the move represented “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marked “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
While the exact number of troops to have been sent is unclear, it is believed to be between 3,000-10,000.
Mr Rutte spoke 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.
Mr Rutte said Nato was “actively consulting within the alliance, with Ukraine, and with our Indo-Pacific partners,” on developments.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
But adding thousands of North Korean soldiers to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II will put more pressure on Ukraine’s weary and overstretched army, as well as stoking geopolitical tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the wider Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia, Western officials warned.
Putin is keen to reshape global power dynamics and sought to build a counterbalance to Western influence with a summit of BRICS countries last week, including the leaders of China and India, in Russia last week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, citing intelligence reports, claimed last Friday that North Korean troops would be on the battlefield within days.
He previously said his government has information that some 10,000 troops from North Korea were being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country.
Days before Mr Zelensky spoke, American and South Korean officials said there was evidence North Korea had dispatched troops to Russia.
The United States said around 3,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to Russia for training.