South Korea demands withdrawal of North Korean troops allegedly helping Russia fight Ukraine

South Korea demanded connected Monday that the Russian ambassador protestation subject practice betwixt Pyongyang and Moscow, calling for the contiguous pullout of North Korean troops rumored to person been deployed to assistance Russia.

The Associated Press reported Friday that South Korea’s spy bureau confirmed North Korea sent 1,500 peculiar operations troops to assistance Russia successful October successful enactment of its warfare against Ukraine.

Ukrainian quality suggests North Korea was preparing to nonstop 10,000 soldiers to articulation Russian forces, according to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev met with Vice South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, erstwhile the second "condemned successful the strongest terms" the North’s sending of troops to assistance Russia, which Kim said poses "a sedate information threat" to South Korea and the planetary community.

SOUTH KOREAN INTELLIGENCE SAYS NORTH HAS SENT TROOPS TO AID RUSSIA'S WAR IN UKRAINE

In this photograph provided by the South Korea Foreign Ministry, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun, right, meets with Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgy Zinoviev astatine the Foreign Ministry successful Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 21, 2024. (South Korea Foreign Ministry via AP)

Kim besides said South Korea and the planetary assemblage volition mobilize each disposable means to woody with the act, which threatens its captious nationalist information interests, the overseas ministry added.

Zinoviev was quoted by the Russian Embassy arsenic saying the practice betwixt Russia and North Korea is not aimed astatine South Korea’s information interests.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte spoke to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol implicit the telephone connected Monday, who said Seoul volition not beryllium idly by arsenic the "reckless" subject practice betwixt Moscow and Pyongyang continues. 

NORTH KOREA BLOWS UP PARTS OF INTER-KOREAN ROAD AND RAIL LINKS IN SYMBOLIC DISPLAY OF ANGER

Yoon besides said South Korea plans to nonstop a delegation to NATO to talk astir Russian-North Korean cooperation, according to his office.

In a station connected X, Rutte said North Korea’s determination to nonstop troops to combat alongside Russia "would people a important escalation."

Pentagon property caput Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters past week that the U.S. could not corroborate oregon corroborate media reports connected the North Korean unit dispatch to Russia.

Russia has antecedently denied utilizing North Korean troops successful the war, with presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov describing the claims arsenic "another portion of fake news" during a quality league past week. North Korea's authorities media hasn't commented connected the issue.

NORTH KOREA SENDS WARNING TO SOUTH KOREA, SAYING TROOPS READY TO STRIKE IF MORE DRONES APPEAR

A TV surface shows an representation of soldiers believed to beryllium from North Korea lasting successful enactment to person supplies from Russia during a quality programme astatine Seoul Railway Station successful Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea and Russia, locked successful abstracted confrontations with the West, person sharply boosted their practice successful the past 2 years. The U.S., South Korea and their partners person accused North Korea of supplying artillery shells, missiles and different conventional arms to Russia to assistance substance its warfare against Ukraine successful instrumentality for economical and subject assistance. In June, North Korean person Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact stipulating communal subject assistance if either state is attacked.

Many experts question however overmuch the North Korean unit dispatch would assistance Russia, citing North Korea’s outdated instrumentality and shortages of conflict experience. They accidental North Korea apt received Russian promises to supply it with high-tech weapons exertion associated with its atomic and rocket programs, a determination that volition complicate U.S. and South Korean efforts to neutralize North Korean atomic threats.

Ukrainian media reported this period that six North Koreans were among those killed aft a Ukrainian rocket onslaught successful the partially occupied eastbound Donetsk portion connected Oct. 3.

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Many experts were antecedently skeptical of imaginable North Korean unit deployments to Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to the fact that North Korea is preoccupied with its atomic standoff with the U.S. and South Korea.

North Korea sent pilots to combat for North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and for Egypt during the Yom Kippur War successful 1973, but determination has been nary known large-scale dispatch of its crushed troops overseas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.