Washington and Seoul call on Pyongyang to withdraw its troops from Russia

The United States and South Korea on Wednesday called on North Korea to withdraw its troops in Russia, fearing they could be used to fight in Ukraine, while Russia's ambassador to the United Nations dismissed reports of their presence as “mere assertions”.

According to Washington and Seoul, some 10,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia, without their mission being clearly identified.

But the Pentagon indicated on Tuesday that it had detected a “small number” of North Korean soldiers in the Russian region of Kursk, which borders Ukraine.

“These are simple assertions, which, in the absence of convincing evidence, are only there to divert attention from really important problems that threaten international peace and security,” assured Vassili Nebenzia, Russian ambassador to the UN, on Wednesday, accusing Washington in particular of reaching a new peak in terms of “disinformation”.

“Even if everything our Western colleagues say about Russia and North Korea cooperating were true, how come the United States and its allies are trying to impose a fallible logic that they have the right to help the Zelensky regime, to mobilize NATO defense and intelligence, while Russia's allies have no right to do the same,” he said.

The tone rose at the United Nations, with the deputy US ambassador to the UN warning that North Korean soldiers would “necessarily leave in body bags” if they entered Ukraine to support Russia.

“So I would advise (North Korean) Chairman Kim to think twice before engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior,” Robert Wood added before the Security Council. UN security.

– “Escalation” –

Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya reaffirmed kyiv's accusations about the presence of 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, adding that they should “begin to participate directly in combat operations against Ukraine in November.”

Earlier in the day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a conference with his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun during which they called on North Korea to “withdraw its troops from Russia.”

A few hours later, Pyongyang, which has not confirmed or denied the presence of troops in Russia, fired, according to the South Korean army, a “long-range ballistic missile (…) towards the East Sea”, also known as the Sea of ​​Japan. The missile, according to the Japanese Defense Minister, belonged to “the class of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).”

For the South Korean Defense Minister, the North Korean deployment could “lead to an escalation of threats to the security of the Korean Peninsula.”

The United States “will continue to work with its allies and partners to discourage Russia from using these troops in combat,” added Mr. Austin, while stressing that there was a “strong chance” that this was already the case.

The American minister also noted that North Korean soldiers were being distributed “Russian uniforms and equipment,” an accusation supported by kyiv.

If North Korean troops are indeed deployed in Russia, “this would constitute a further escalation in North Korean support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine,” said French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Rivière.

– Diplomatic ballet –

The UN, for its part, indicated that it could not confirm these accusations through Miroslav Jenca, UN Under-Secretary-General for Europe.

This deployment comes at a time when Ukraine announced on Tuesday the mobilization of 160,000 men, kyiv being confronted with accelerating Russian advances.

The diplomatic ballet is intense: Russian diplomacy announced on Wednesday the arrival in Moscow of the North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Son Hui, for “strategic” discussions.

There is a “high probability” that Pyongyang will ask Russia for technology transfers to support its weapons programs, as well as reconnaissance satellites, in exchange for the deployment of its forces, according to the South Korean Defense Minister.

For his part, the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, discussed the war in Ukraine with a Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, on Wednesday in Beijing.

Russia and North Korea have strengthened their political and military alliance since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022. Both are subject to sanctions: Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons program and Moscow for its war against kyiv.

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