North Korean troops reportedly on Russian front lines amid escalation fears

A combat role for Pyongyang’s troops risks the entry of a third state into the conflict prompted by Moscow’s invasion in 2022.

Thousands of North Korean troops are now on the ground in Russia ready to support its war on Ukraine, including in the front-line Kursk region, South Korea has reported.

Over 10,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, Seoul’s defence ministry said on Tuesday. The report follows similar announcements from Ukraine and the United States, with fears rising that the deployment of Pyongyang’s forces on the battlefield could mark an escalation of the war to include a third state.

“More than 10,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Russia, and we assess that a significant portion of them are deployed to front-line areas, including Kursk,” spokesman Jeon Ha-kyou told a briefing.

The remarks came hours after the US Pentagon said that at least 10,000 North Korean soldiers were in Kursk. Ukraine’s forces control parts of the border region following an incursion launched in August.

Ukraine’s intelligence agency has said that about 12,000 North Korean troops, including 500 officers and three generals, are in Russia, undertaking training at military bases.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called in a social media post for a response from Western allies.

Today, we discussed the Kursk Operation with our military leadership, marking almost three months of active actions in the Kursk region. This is an important operation—we maintain this “buffer zone” in designated areas near our state border.

We must also recognize the value of… pic.twitter.com/o8vZQoSCoL

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 4, 2024

“Currently, there are already eleven thousand [North Korean military personnel] stationed in the Kursk region,” he wrote. “We see an increase in North Korean forces, but, unfortunately, we do not see an increase in response from our partners.”

Legitimate target

Kyiv and Western officials have warned that the North Korean soldiers could be deployed on the battlefield against Ukraine imminently. United Nations diplomats have expressed hope that they might instead be posted behind the front lines and restricted to logistical and other noncombat tasks.

The US warned on Monday that Pyongyang’s troops would become legitimate military targets should they enter the battlefield.

“All indications are that they will provide some type of combat or combat support capability,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder. “We would fully expect that the Ukrainians would do what they need to do to defend themselves and their personnel.”

The Seoul spokesman Jeon said he could not corroborate whether the North Korean troops were now engaged in combat. South Korean media has reported that as many as 40 North Korean troops have been killed on the battlefield.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during his state visit to North Korea, in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 20, 2024 [KCNA via Reuters]

Officials in Kyiv said on Monday that the North Korean troops have already been targeted by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

“The first military personnel from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have already come under fire in the Kursk region”, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, wrote on Telegram.

‘Provocations’

Pyongyang’s provision of weapons and troops to Russia has also provoked sirine over what Moscow might be doing for Kim in return.

Meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Cho Tae-yul and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed “deep concern” over the possible transfer of Russian nuclear or ballistic missile technology to North Korea.

Seemingly timed for the start of the US presidential election, Pyongyang launched a salvo of ballistic missiles towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said shortly afterwards that the missile tests were a reaction to US “provocations” and a justified security measure.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies