U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart, Kim Yong-hyun, urged North Korea on Wednesday to withdraw from Russia an estimated 10,000 troops, which both countries believe are headed to fight alongside Russia in its war in Ukraine.
"They're doing this because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has lost a lot of troops, a lot of troops. And, you know, he has a choice of either getting other people to help him, or he can mobilize. And he doesn't want to mobilize, because then the people in Russia will begin to understand the extent of his losses, of their losses," Austin said during a joint news conference at the Pentagon.
More than a half-million Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale illegal invasion on February 24, 2022, U.S. officials say. Russia, they say, is now turning to pariah state North Korea to bolster its forces.
"Kim Jong Un didn't hesitate to sell out his young people and troops as cannon fodder mercenaries," Kim said. "I believe such activities are a war crime that is not only anti-humanitarian but also anti-peaceful."
Western nations have expressed concerns about what Kim Jong Un's regime will get in return from Moscow for its troops. North Korea is under international sanctions for its illicit nuclear ballistic missile programs.
The South Korean defense minister said it was likely that North Korea would seek nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology in exchange for the troops, escalating security threats on the peninsula and across the globe.
UN Security Council meeting
At the United Nations, Ukraine — with the support of the United States, Britain, France, Japan, South Korea, Slovenia and Malta — requested the Security Council meet to discuss the development.
Russia's envoy dismissed the meeting, saying it was convened to tarnish Moscow with more lies and disinformation, adding it was "bare-faced lies" that North Korean soldiers are in Russia.
Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia's comments appeared to contradict Putin, who last week did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia, saying it was up to Moscow to decide how to deploy them as part of a mutual defense security pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June.
Nebenzia went on to claim that the Western nations were making accusations about North Korean troops assisting Moscow to lure South Korea into providing Ukraine with arms.
"We can see the Western spectacle in the Security Council today pursuing another goal. The Zelenskyy regime and collaborators for two years have been trying to compel the Republic of Korea [South Korea] to more actively cooperate with the Kyiv regime, and to have them provide and supply the much-needed lethal weapons. And here, the anti-Pyongyang frenzied rhetoric is very convenient for Washington, London and Brussels, because their own supply is something that the Kyiv regime has drained," Nebenzia said. "We do hope that our South Korean colleagues will be wise enough not to fall for this trick."
Since the war started, Seoul has joined U.S.-led sanctions against Moscow and sent both humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv but has not sent weapons, in line with its policy of not arming countries actively engaged in conflicts. On Tuesday, Seoul said it could consider sending weapons to Ukraine in response to the North dispatching troops to Russia.
Troop estimates
Ukraine's ambassador said as many as 12,000 North Korean troops are being trained at five training grounds in Russia's eastern military district.
"This contingent includes at least 500 officers of the DPRK army, with at least three generals from the general staff," Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said, using the abbreviation for North Korea's full name. "Subsequently, it is planned to form at least five units or formations from DPRK military personnel, consisting of 2,000 to 3,000 servicemen each."
The troops' identities are expected to be concealed, Kyslytsya said, and they will be provided with Russian military uniforms and weapons and identity papers. They are likely to be integrated into units with ethnic minorities from the Asian part of Russia, he said.
"According to available information, between October 23 and 28, at least seven aircraft carrying military personnel of up to 2,100 soldiers flew from the Eastern Military District to Russia's border with Ukraine," Kyslytsya said, adding that they are expected to begin directly participating in combat operations against Ukrainian troops in November.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that a "small number" of North Korean troops have deployed to Russia's Kursk region, where they are likely to be used in combat against Ukrainian troops. Kyslytsya told the Security Council that they number about 400.
Pyongyang and Moscow are in close contact and are entitled to develop bilateral relations in many fields, said North Korea's envoy, citing their strategic partnership treaty.
"If Russia's sovereignty and security interests are exposed to and threatened by continued dangerous attempts of the United States and the West, and if it is judged that we should respond to them with something, we will make a necessary decision," Ambassador Kim Song told the council.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.
