North Korea sends 3,000 troops to Russia, South says
US defence secretary says evidence shows North Korea troops are in Russia

'Very serious' if they fight alongside Russia in Ukraine

Moscow, Pyongyang dismiss reports as fake and groundless

ROME/SEOUL, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The United States said for the first time
on Wednesday that it had seen evidence of North Korean troops in Russia,
and South Korean lawmakers said about 3,000 soldiers had been sent to
support the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, with more to follow.

U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in Rome, said it would be
"very, very serious" if the North Koreans were preparing to fight
alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged, though he said it
remained to be seen what they would be doing there.

"There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia," Austin told
reporters, using North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.

In Seoul, South Korean lawmakers said that North Korea has sent 3,000
troops to Russia and thousands more were expected to follow.

Pyongyang had promised to provide a total of about 10,000 troops, whose
deployment was expected to be completed by December, the lawmakers told
reporters after being briefed by South Korea's national intelligence
agency.

The figure of 3,000 is twice a previous estimate of numbers of troops
already in Russia.

"Signs of troops being trained inside North Korea were detected in
September and October," Park Sun-won, a member of a parliamentary
intelligence committee, said after the briefing.

"It appears that the troops have now been dispersed to multiple training
facilities in Russia and are adapting to the local environment."

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United
States assessed that at least 3,000 North Korean troops were transported
by ship to the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok in early-to-mid
October.

Then, they were taken to multiple military sites in eastern Russia, where
they have been undergoing training, the U.S. official said.

The Ukraine conflict broke out when Russia invaded its neighbour in
February 2022 and has since developed into a war of attrition largely
fought along front lines in eastern Ukraine, with huge numbers of
casualties on both sides.

Austin said the alleged North Korean deployment could be further evidence
that the Russian military was having problems with manpower.

The Kremlin has previously dismissed Seoul's claims about the North's
troop deployment as "fake news" and a North Korean representative to the
United Nations in New York called it "groundless rumours" at a meeting on
Monday.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have also denied weapons transfers, but they
have pledged to boost military ties and signed a mutual defence treaty at
a summit in June.

The latest numbers came after Seoul's National Intelligence Service said
on Friday the North had sent some 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia
by ship and they were likely to be deployed for combat in the war in
Ukraine after training and acclimatisation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also accused Pyongyang of
preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to Russia. On Tuesday he called on his
allies to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement in Russia's war.

NATO allies are consulting on the North Korean deployment to Russia, a
NATO spokesperson said.

"The North Atlantic Council will receive a briefing from (South Korea) and
further discuss this matter soon," spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said.

FAMILIES ISOLATED
Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker on the South Korean committee, said Pyongyang
authorities had tried to keep news of the deployment from spreading.

"There are also signs of North Korean authorities relocating and isolating
those families (of the troops) in a certain place in order to effectively
control them and thoroughly crack down on the rumours," Lee said, citing
the spy agency.

Lee also said the agency confirmed that Russia had recruited a "large
number" of interpreters for the North Korean soldiers, while training them
in the use of military equipment such as drones.

"Russian instructors are assessing that the North Korean military has
excellent physical attributes and morale but lacks understanding of modern
warfare such as drone attacks," he said.

"Therefore, there could be many casualties if they are deployed to the
front lines."

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Russia has
suffered more than 600,000 killed or wounded troops in the war in Ukraine.
Austin said the alleged North Korean deployment could point to a shortage
of Russian recruits.

"This is an indication that he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) may be
even in more trouble than most people realize," Austin said.

"He went tin cupping early on to get additional weapons and materials from
DPRK and then from Iran. And now he's making a move to get more people --
if that is the case, if these troops are designed to be a part of the
fight in Ukraine."

On Tuesday the South's presidential office urged an immediate withdrawal
of the North's troops from Russia, warning that it may consider supplying
lethal weapons to Ukraine if military ties between them went too far.

In Berlin, Germany summoned North Korea's charge d'affaires on Wednesday
over concerns about the troop deployment.

"Should reports be true on North Korean soldiers in Ukraine and should
North Korea now be supporting the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine
with troops, this would be serious and in violation of international law,"
the German foreign ministry said.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said last week it had been
working with the Ukrainian intelligence service and had used facial
recognition technology to identify North Korean officers in eastern
Ukraine's Donetsk region supporting Russian forces firing North Korean
missiles.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-has-sent-3000-
troops-russia-ukraine-war-south-korean-lawmakers-say-2024-10-23/