The deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight on the Ukrainian front alongside Russian forces would constitute a “significant escalation,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday.
• Also read: Ukraine announces having repatriated the bodies of 501 killed soldiers, returned by Russia
• Also read: Moscow seeks to expand war in Ukraine with North Korean troops, says Kyiv
• Also read: North Korean soldiers most likely killed in Ukraine, Seoul says
“I spoke with the South Korean President (Yoon Suk Yeol) about the close partnership between NATO and Seoul, defense industrial cooperation and interconnected security between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo- Pacific,” said the head of the Alliance on X.
“North Korea sending troops to fight with Russia in Ukraine would mark a significant escalation,” he added.
According to South Korea’s intelligence agency, North Korea has decided to send up to 12,000 troops to help Russia. Some 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia to acclimatize and should soon go to the front, according to the same source.
Asked on Friday on this point, Mr. Rutte indicated that the Alliance could not confirm “at this stage” the deployment by North Korea of troops in Russia. “But, of course, that can change,” he added.
As relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have deteriorated in recent months, nuclear-armed North Korea has moved even closer to Russia, an ally of the North Korean regime since its creation after World War II. worldwide. South Korea and the United States have long claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sends weapons used in Ukraine to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, during which the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty, the details of which have not been released. This has fueled speculation about further arms transfers – which violate UN sanctions packages against Russia and North Korea.
