The alleged deployment of North Korean troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine was a major topic of the 56th U.S.-Republic of Korea Security Consultative Meeting at the Pentagon yesterday. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun “expressed concern that Russia-D.P.R.K. military cooperation, which has been intensified since the signing of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between the two, is deepening regional instability,” according to the 21-paragraph communiqué that they issued yesterday. “The two leaders made clear that military cooperation, including illegal arms trade and high-technology transfers between Russia and the D.P.R.K., constitute a clear violation of [UN resolutions] UNSCRs, and called on Russia to uphold its commitments,” it went on to say. “The two leaders also strongly condemned in the strongest terms with one voice that the military cooperation between Russia and the D.P.R.K. has expanded beyond transfers of military supplies to actual deployment of forces, and pledged to closely coordinate with the international community regarding this issue.”
“The evidence now suggests that North Korea has sent around 10,000 soldiers to train in eastern Russia and some of these D.P.R.K. troops have already moved closer to Ukraine,” Austin claimed during a joint press conference with Kim. “And we’re seeing them outfitted with Russian uniforms and provided with Russian equipment. And I am increasingly concerned that the Kremlin plans to use these North Korean soldiers to support Russia’s combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine.”
The alleged North Korean deployment was also the topic of a UN Security Council meeting which featured, as the Korea Herald characterized it, “undiplomatic” language. South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook condemned Pyongyang’s disregard for its young soldiers, labeling North Korea’s treatment of its own people as “expendable” and unforgivable. “As legitimate military targets, they will end up as mere cannon fodder, while the wages they are supposed to receive from Russia will end up squarely in Kim Jong Un’s pocket. I do personally feel pity for these soldiers as a fellow Korean,” Hwang said.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward took her own swipe at “a desperate and impoverished Russia,” stating: “Instead of sending other countries’ sons to die for the imperialistic whims of one man, they should end the war now.”
Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood delivered a pointed warning directly to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, raising his hand and responding in a firm, emphatic tone immediately after North Korean UN Ambassador Kim Song’s remarks on the council floor. “Should D.P.R.K.’s troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior,” Wood proclaimed. Perhaps he had in mind images of foreign mercenaries who died fighting for Ukraine, including, according to the Russian count, more than 400 Americans.
