Washington believes that 3,000 North Korean soldiers have traveled to Russia for training, spokesman John Kirby has said
If North Korean soldiers enter the Ukraine conflict on Russia’s side, they will become “legitimate military targets” for Kiev’s forces, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has declared.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed on Wednesday that there are currently an unknown number of North Korean servicemen in Russia, and that the Pentagon does not know “what exactly they’re doing.” Austin added that it would be a “very serious issue” if North Korea intended “to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf.”
In a briefing later on Wednesday afternoon, Kirby told reporters that “at least 3,000” North Korean soldiers entered eastern Russia earlier this month, and have since been dispatched to “multiple Russian training sites.”
Kirby said that the US does not know what kind of training these soldiers have supposedly received. However, he speculated that they “could travel to western Russia and then engage in combat against the Ukrainian military.”
“If these North Korean soldiers decide to join the fight against Ukraine, they will become legitimate military targets,” he added.
Pyongyang has dismissed claims that it sent troops to Russia as “groundless and stereotype rumors.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that cooperation between Russia and North Korea is “our sovereign right,” but that Moscow has seen “a lot of contradictory information” on the matter.
Rumors of the DPRK’s involvement in the conflict began earlier this month, when Ukrainian media outlets reported the deaths of North Korean troops in Donetsk Region. However, no evidence was given to back up these reports.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed two weeks later that North Korean “officers and technical staff” had been spotted near the front line, and that Pyongyang was planning to send 10,000 soldiers to take part in the conflict.
South Korea’s spy agency, the NIS, claimed last week that North Korea had sent 1,500 troops to Russia for training. These soldiers “are expected to be deployed to the front lines once their adaptation training is completed,” the agency added.
Russia and North Korea signed a landmark Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in June, during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang. The agreement includes a pledge by Russia and North Korea to assist each other if either is “put in a state of war by an armed invasion.”
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