NATO Confirms North Korean Troops Deployed to Kursk, Russia

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte addresses reporters during a news conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 17, 2024. FRANCOIS WALSCHAERTS/AFP via Getty Images

North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to aid in its war against Ukraine, according to NATO.

“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a statement on Oct. 28.

Rutte said that the move represents “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”

“The deployment of North Korean troops represents: one, a significant escalation in [North Korea’s] ongoing involvement in Russia’s illegal war. Two, yet another breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions. And three, a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war,” he said.

Rutte noted that Pyongyang has already supplied Russia with “millions of rounds of ammunition and ballistic missiles that are fuelling a major conflict in the heart of Europe and undermining global peace and security.”

Ukraine

A growing number of intelligence reports from multiple countries indicate that North Korean troops are in Russia and preparing to fight in Ukraine.

Although the total number of soldiers being sent remains unclear, South Korean news agency Yonhap News stated that it could be up to 10,000 troops. The Epoch Times has not been able to independently verify this figure.

When previously asked about the North Korean troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it is up to Moscow how to run its mutual defense clause with Pyongyang.

“Images are a serious thing,“ Putin told a reporter on Oct. 24 during a press conference at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, about satellite imagery allegedly showing North Korean troop movements. ”If there are images, then they reflect something.”

He specifically mentioned Article 4 of the Russian partnership deal with North Korea, which addresses mutual defense.

“There is article 4. We have never doubted in the least that the North Korean leadership takes our agreements seriously. But what we do within the framework of this article is our business,” Putin said.

On Oct. 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv expects the first North Korean troops to be deployed to combat zones by the end of the month.

On Oct. 17, Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Brussels that he had intelligence that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers were preparing to “fight against us.”

He described it as a “first step to the World War.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence service previously said that the first North Korean units trained in Russia had been deployed in the Kursk region of western Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) after a signing ceremony following their bilateral talks at Kumsusan state residence in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. Kristina Kormilitsyna / POOL /AFP via Getty Images

North Korea

Last week, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) released satellite evidence that it claimed shows that North Korean soldiers are being sent to Russia.

The intelligence agency reported that in early August, it detected Kim Jeong-sik, a top North Korean official, visiting the KN-23 missile launch site near the Russia–Ukraine front several times, accompanied by military officers to provide guidance.

The NIS then closely monitored North Korean military movements and, on Oct. 18, stated that in early October, it observed ships transporting 1,500 North Korean soldiers at a time to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.

The NIS statd that photos and satellite imagery confirmed North Korean special forces’ involvement in the Ukraine–Russia war, with the first troop transfer conducted via Russian Pacific Fleet ships.

This marks the first entry of the Russian naval fleet into North Korean waters since 1990, the intelligence agency stated.

A North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York said on Oct. 22 that the U.S. and South Korean intelligence assertions about sending troops to Russia were “groundless rumors.”