Seoul accuses North Korea of sending soldiers to Russia

2024-10-19 09:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Seoul accuses North Korea of ??sending soldiers to Russia

South Korea said on Friday that Pyongyang began moving special forces to Russia earlier this month, days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused North Korea of ??sending soldiers and weapons to help the Kremlin in its fight against Ukraine.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a statement on Oct. 18 that it tracked the North's military movements from Oct. 8 to 13 and captured images of North Korea sending special forces into Russian territory through a Russian ship.

She said this is the first time a Russian Navy ship has been detected entering North Korean waters since 1990, "confirming the beginning of the North Korean military's participation in the war."

"North Korean soldiers sent to Russia are currently stationed at Russian military bases in the Far East, including Vladivostok, Usurisk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, and are expected to be sent to the front lines once they complete their adaptation training," it said. NIS announcement.

"North Korean soldiers were equipped with Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons, and also with forged identity cards of residents of the regions of Siberia, Yakutia and Buryatia, who resembled North Koreans. It appears that they disguised themselves as Russian soldiers to hiding the fact that they were sent to the battlefield", it is further said.

The statement includes maps and photographs purporting to support these claims, which have not been independently verified.

Rumors of North Korea's role in the conflict have increased as relations between Moscow and countries such as North Korea and Iran have strengthened, nearly 32 months after Moscow began its full-scale occupation of Ukraine.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US military organization based in Washington, also recently reported that several thousand North Korean troops had arrived in Russia and were preparing to move into Ukraine.

The Kremlin has previously denied South Korean claims that Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with artillery shells and short-range missiles, but has not commented on the latest claims from Seoul or from Zelensky, who on October 14 said that "it is no longer just about the transfer of arms. In fact, it is about the transfer of people from North Korea to the occupying military forces."

NATO chief Mark Rutte, speaking in Brussels on October 18, said the military alliance could not confirm reports that North Korean troops were "actively engaged" in the conflict in Ukraine.

Ministers of Defense from the 32 member countries of NATO have met to discuss the developments in Ukraine, as well as other issues./ Rel