Ukraine says North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region

Ukraine said Thursday that North Korean soldiers had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops control hundreds of square kilometers, with Western fears their involvement in the fighting could lead to a major escalation in the war.

These statements come as Russian MPs voted unanimously earlier in the day to ratify the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty” with North Korea, which provides for mutual assistance in the event of armed aggression by a third country.

“The first units of the North Korean army, which were trained on training grounds in eastern Russia, have already arrived in the combat zone” between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian military intelligence service (GUR) said in a statement.

“On October 23, 2024”, that is, Wednesday, “their appearance was recorded in the (Russian) Kursk region,” they added.

Asked about the subject, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has undertaken an accelerated diplomatic and military rapprochement with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un since 2022, avoided answering directly, initially preferring to criticize the role of the West in Ukraine since 2014.

North Korean troops in Russia © AFP – Nicholas SHEARMAN

“Imagery is a serious thing, if there are images (of the deployment of North Korean forces in Russia), it's because they reflect something…”, he quipped.

And he told journalists: “We have never doubted that the North Koreans take our agreements (on cooperation, editor's note) seriously.”

“It's our business,” he added when referring to Article 4 of the joint Russia-North Korea treaty, which provides for “immediate military aid” in the event of armed aggression by third countries.

This treaty between Russia and North Korea was signed on June 19 during a rare visit by President Putin to Pyongyang, illustrating this intensification of bilateral relations.

– “Not with folded arms” –

Earlier on Thursday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had warned that his country would “not stand idly by” in the face of a North Korean troop deployment on Russian soil, even saying he was ready to study “with more flexibility” the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine, “depending on the actions of the North Korean forces”.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on October 24, 2024 in Seoul © POOL – JEON HEON-KYUN

For its part, North Korea denies providing Russia with fresh forces for its assault on Ukraine, with a Pyongyang representative at the UN calling it a “baseless rumor.”

But according to a White House spokesperson, “between early and mid-October, North Korea moved at least 3,000 troops” to eastern Russia, confirming information initially provided by Seoul.

Washington had said, however, that it did not know whether they would fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, while considering that it was a “very worrying possibility”.

If this is the case, these soldiers will be “legitimate military targets”, the American spokesman had warned.

South Korean intelligence assured last week that North Korea had decided to send up to 12,000 soldiers to help Russia.

In recent months, Pyongyang had already been accused by the West of supplying quantities of shells and missiles to the Russian army.

– Unanimous vote in Moscow –

In Moscow, 397 deputies of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, voted Thursday in favor of the “treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership” between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The text must be examined on November 6 by the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, before being signed, without a doubt, by Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan, October 24, 2024 © AFP – Alexander NEMENOV

Calling for the establishment of “an international system multipolar”, a formula used by Moscow to counter what it calls the “hegemony” of the United States, this treaty also provides for “efforts to increase trade” and to “minimize the impact” of economic sanctions that may be introduced by third countries.

The vote in the Duma comes on the day of the closing of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, a group of nine countries sometimes presented as those of the “Global South”.

By multiplying bilateral meetings, Vladimir Putin has endeavored to demonstrate the failure of the policy of diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions targeting his country.

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