South Korean intelligence says North Korea has sent troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's spy service said Friday North Korea has sent troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. If confirmed, this move would involve a third country in the war and intensify the confrontation between North Korea and the West.

The South Korean announcement came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government had information that 10,000 troops from North Korea were being prepared to join Russian forces fighting against his country.

National Intelligence said in a statement that Russian naval vessels moved 1,500 North Korean special forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok from October 8 to 13. It is expected that more North Korean troops will soon be sent to Russia.

The North Korean soldiers stationed in Russia received Russian military uniforms, weapons and fake identification documents, the NIS said. It said they are currently at military bases in Vladivostok and other Russian locations such as Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, and that they are likely to be deployed to battlefields after completing their adaptation training.

The NIS posted satellite photos and other photos on its website showing Russian Navy ship movements near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk over the past week.

South Korean media reported, citing the NIS, that North Korea had decided to send a total of 12,000 soldiers in four brigades to Russia. The NIS said it could not confirm the reports.

The NIS has a mixed record in detecting developments in North Korea, one of the world's most secretive countries. If confirmed, this would be North Korea's first major involvement in a foreign war. North Korea has 1.2 million soldiers, one of the largest standing forces in the world, but has not participated in major conflicts after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Asked about the NIS findings, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: “At this point, our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are now actively involved as soldiers in the war effort, but that could change.”

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday that the U.S. could neither confirm nor substantiate media reports about North Korean troops sending to Russia.

Russia has previously denied using North Korean troops in the war. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the claims “another hoax” at a news conference last week. North Korea's state media did not comment on the issue.

North Korea and Russia, The two countries, embroiled in separate confrontations with the West, have significantly intensified their cooperation over the past two years. The US, South Korea and their partners have filed charges North Korea delivers Artillery shells, rockets and other conventional weapons to Russia to fuel its war against Ukraine in return for economic and military aid. In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement Pact that provided for mutual military aid if one of the countries is attacked.

Many experts question how much North Korea's troop deployment would help Russia, citing North Korea's outdated equipment and lack of combat experience. They say North Korea likely received commitments from Russia to equip it with high-tech weapons technology related to its nuclear and missile programs, a move that will complicate U.S. and South Korean efforts to neutralize North Korea's nuclear threats.

“Diplomatically, Pyongyang would be sacrificing its relations with European countries for the foreseeable future. “The quid pro quo in the form of supplying Russian military technology to the Kim regime could be significant enough to threaten South Korea's security,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, believes Russia has likely offered technology transfers related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and surface-to-air defense systems that would strengthen North Korea's deterrent position against the United States and the South Korean Armed Forces.

Hong said Kim could also see the troop deployment as a crucial opportunity to familiarize his soldiers with modern weapons technology and warfare and test their combat skills.

Earlier on Friday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called an emergency security meeting to discuss the consequences of North Korea's troop deployment. According to Yoon's office, participants at the meeting agreed that North Korea's troop deployment posed a “serious security threat” to South Korea and the international community.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated in recent years, with Kim significantly increasing the pace provocative missile tests and openly threatened the preventative use of nuclear weapons. South Korea and the USA have responded with an expansion military exercises, what North Korea sees as rehearsals for an invasion.

On Thursday, Zelensky warned that a third nation's intervention in the hostilities could turn the conflict into a “world war.”

“From our intelligence services we have information that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters at NATO headquarters. “They are preparing 10,000 soldiers on their land, but they have not yet moved them to Ukraine or Russia.”

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Koreans were among the victims of a Ukrainian missile attack in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region on October 3.

Many experts had previously been skeptical about the possible deployment of North Korean troops to Russian-Ukrainian battlefields, as North Korea is preoccupied with the nuclear standoff with the United States and South Korea.

North Korea sent pilots to fight for North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and for Egypt during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but there are no known large-scale deployments of its ground forces overseas.

There has been speculation that North Korea likely sent military technicians and engineers to support Russia's use of North Korean weapons and learn about their wartime performance.

Easley, the professor, said: “It would be surprising if Pyongyang used thousands of soldiers as mercenaries to fight.” But he added that North Korea had sent construction workers, technicians, engineers and military intelligence officers to Russian-controlled enclaves can.

__

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.