North Korea confirms it sent troops to Russia
SEOUL—North Korea on Monday confirmed that it has sent troops to Russia to support the war against Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and hailed his countrymen as “heroes” for fighting in the Kursk region.
US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials have said that North Korea last fall dispatched about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia. But North Korea hadn’t confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until Monday.
In a statement provided to North Korea’s state media, the North’s Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party said leader Kim Jong Un had decided to send combat troops to Russia under a mutual defense treaty.
It cited Kim as saying that the troops’ deployment was meant to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.”
“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim said, according to the statement.
In February, South Korea’s spy agency said North Korea appeared to have sent additional troops to Russia, after its soldiers on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.
