Home > National > North Korea

South shows 'grave concern' over North's dispatch of 6,000 troops to Russia

Published: 18 Jun. 2025, 11:47 Updated: 18 Jun. 2025, 17:24

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, oversees a military training operation at a camp near Pyongyang on Oct. 31, 2024. [YONHAP]

A senior official from South Korea’s presidential office expressed concern over North Korea’s decision to dispatch 6,000 personnel, including military engineers and construction workers, to Russia.

“The government’s position has already been made public,” the official said, speaking to reporters at a press center in Calgary, where the Group of 7, or G7, summit is being held on Tuesday. “We do not support [the dispatch]. This is a matter of concern.”

The comment follows a statement by a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official who said, “The reception and employment of North Korean overseas laborers is a clear violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.”

The ministry urged Pyongyang and Moscow to “immediately cease illegal cooperation,” expressing “grave concern” over the development.

According to Russian state-run RIA Novosti, Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, announced during his visit to Pyongyang that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had agreed to send 6,000 personnel to Russia’s Kursk region.

The deployment reportedly includes 1,000 engineering troops tasked with mine removal and 5,000 military construction workers to help rebuild infrastructure damaged by Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine.

Shoigu said security cooperation was the main purpose of his visit and described the agreement on personnel support in Kursk as a positive development. He also expressed hope that direct flights between Russia and North Korea, suspended for more than 30 years, would resume in the near future.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]