By KYIV, Ukraine — North Korean troops are poised to be deployed by Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine as early as this weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Friday.
Western officials have warned that North Korean units joining the fight would escalate the nearly three-year war and have geopolitical consequences reaching as far as the Indo-Pacific region. The possibility has alarmed leaders and deepened diplomatic tensions.
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the top national security advisers from the United States, Japan, and South Korea met and ‘expressed grave concern’ about North Korea’s potential deployment of troops to support Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Kirby said that the national security advisers from the three countries “call on Russia and the DPRK to cease these actions that only serve to expand the security implications of Russia’s brutal and illegal war beyond Europe and into the Indo-Pacific.” “It is possible that there are now more than 3,000 troops from North Korea that have been dispatched to Russia for outfitting and for training,” Kirby said on a call with reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were being prepared to join invading Russian forces.
Kirby said the U.S. government did not have firm intelligence assessments on where the troops were going “but we believe it is certainly possible” and “perhaps even likely” that some of the North Korean troops would be deployed to the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine has held some territory since capturing it in August. But he cautioned that he did not know in what capacity and to what purpose the North Korean troops would be deployed.
A senior official in the Ukrainian presidential office told The Associated Press on Friday that Zelenskyy had canceled a planned visit to Kyiv by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said the visit was supposed to come after this week’s summit in the Russian city of Kazan of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, which Guterres attended. A photograph of Guterres shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the summit sparked public outrage in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, in a post on Telegram, said Ukrainian intelligence had determined that “the first North Korean military personnel will be deployed by Russia in combat zones” between Sunday and Monday.
Chief of the Military Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov speaks with journalists during ‘Ukraine. Year 2024’ conference, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 25, 2024. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko.
He said on Telegram that the deployment was “an obvious escalating move by Russia.” He didn’t provide any further details, including where the North Korean troops may be sent.
Russia has been conducting a ferocious summer campaign along the eastern front in Ukraine, gradually compelling Kyiv to surrender ground. But Russia has struggled to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region following an incursion almost three months ago.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on Thursday that North Korean units were spotted on Wednesday in Kursk. According to GUR, these soldiers had undergone several weeks of training at bases in eastern Russia and had been equipped with clothes for the upcoming winter.
It estimated the number of North Korean soldiers sent by Pyongyang to Russia at around 12,000, including some 500 officers and three generals.
GUR provided no evidence for its claims.
In this photo provided by Ukraine’s 24th Mechanised Brigade press service, servicemen of the 24th Mechanised Brigade fire 155mm M-109 “Paladin” howitzer towards Russian forces near the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukrainian 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)
On Friday, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans posted on the social platform X, stating that intelligence reports suggest the North Korean soldiers “will likely first be deployed in Kursk.”
The deployment of North Korean forces under a military pact between Moscow and Pyongyang brings a new dimension to the conflict, which is Europe’s biggest war since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.
The U.S. said on Wednesday that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations, calling the move very serious.
In this photo provided by South Korea Foreign Ministry, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun, right, meets with Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgy Zinoviev at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (South Korea Foreign Ministry via AP)
Zelenskyy said a week ago that his government has intelligence information that 10,000 troops from North Korea are being readied to join Russian forces fighting against his country. He said that a third nation wading into the hostilities would turn the conflict into a “world war.” North Korea had already been supplying ammunition to Russia under a defense pact, but putting boots on the ground could severely complicate a war that has inflamed international politics, with most Western countries supporting Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Putin has sought additional support from BRICS countries.
He has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in Russia.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres drew the ire of Kyiv by attending the BRICS summit in Russia at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 24.
