South Korea watching closely amid reports Russia training North's troops to fight in Ukraine

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South Korea watching closely amid reports Russia training North's troops to fight in Ukraine

Published: 16 Oct. 2024, 17:23

MICHAEL LEE
lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet in this file photo. [YONHAP]

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it is “closely monitoring” signs that Russia is training North Koreans for deployment along the front lines of its war in Ukraine following recent media reports.

According to a Tuesday report by the Kyiv Post that cited Ukraine’s military intelligence, up to 3,000 North Koreans are being trained to take part in a “Special Buryat Battalion” under the 11th separate airborne assault brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.

“The possibility of (North Korea) providing troops or civilian personnel is being closely monitored," an official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry said in response to a question about Ukrainian reports on the matter.

Ukrainian military blogger Igor Sushko wrote on X on Tuesday that the North Korean troops were being issued military identity cards identifying them as Buryats, an ethnic minority based in the Russian Far East who are closely related to Mongolians.

The Kyiv Post also said the battalion is currently being supplied with small arms and ammunition and may be deployed near Sudzha and Kursk, a Russian city located near the country’s border with Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his intelligence services had briefed him on the movements of North Korean personnel to the Russian military and “the actual involvement of North Korea in the war” in Ukraine.

The Washington Post also previously reported that thousands of North Korean soldiers were undergoing training in Russia for possible deployment to Ukraine before the end of the year.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement that the involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine would signify “a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues to suffer significant casualties on the battlefield in its brutal war against Ukraine.”

South Korea, the United States and Ukraine have previously accused North Korea of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and ammunition, a charge that both countries have denied.

However, preparations for the entry of North Korean military personnel into the war have been characterized by multiple reported mishaps.

A Ukrainian intelligence source told the Kyiv Post on Tuesday that 18 North Korean soldiers have already fled their positions between the Kursk and Bryansk regions of Russia.

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hold a joint press conference at the Mariinsky Palace, the official presidential residence, in Kyiv on July 15, 2023. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

The area of their defection is just 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) from the country’s border with Ukraine.

The source said Russian soldiers are currently hunting the missing North Koreans while local commanders are engaged in efforts to conceal their defection from higher-ups.

According to earlier reports that cited Ukrainian intelligence, six North Korean officers were killed and three others injured when a Ukrainian missile struck a Russian position near Donetsk on Oct. 3.

The sources said the North Koreans were visiting the front lines as part of a battlefield experience exchange between Pyongyang and Moscow’s militaries.

The two countries have ramped up military cooperation since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September last year in the Russian Far East.

The pair inked a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that included a mutual defense clause during Putin’s subsequent visit to Pyongyang in June.

On Monday, Putin presented a bill to ratify the treaty to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, to ratify the treaty, according to Russian news outlet Sputnik.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]