WNAM REPORT: An estimated 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia to train and fight against Ukraine in “the next several weeks”, the Pentagon has announced.
Some of the 10,000 North Korean soldiers deployed to eastern Russia for training – up from an initial US estimate of 3,000 last week – have moved closer to the Ukrainian border, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday, Al Jazeera reports.
“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast near the border with Ukraine,” Singh told reporters.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said earlier on Monday that the North Korean deployment represents “a significant escalation” in the Ukraine conflict and was “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war”.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte told reporters after talks with a South Korean delegation about the North Korean deployments.
A North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official did not confirm media reports about a troop deployment to Russia but said if Pyongyang had taken such action, he believed it would be in line with international norms.
