Moscow and Pyongyang have, for the first time, officially acknowledged that North Korean troops are fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
It’s been widely reported for months that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had sent thousands of his elite troops to assist Russian ground assaults in Kursk.
But Russia and North Korea remained silent on the matter even as evidence mounted of Pyongyang’s direct involvement, until now.
On Saturday, the Kremlin quoted Valery Gerasimov, the chief of staff of Russia’s armed forces, thanking North Korean troops at a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“I would like to separately note the participation of the servicemen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the liberation of the border areas of the Kursk region,” he said in Russian.
Gerasimov praised Pyongyang’s troops as showing “courage and heroism,” and said they had been “performing combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen.”
On Monday morning, Pyongyang time, North Korea issued its own official recognition of its troops’ fighting against Ukraine.
State media wrote that North Korean combat units had “participated in the operations for liberating the Kursk areas.”
The North Korean report used similar wording to Gerasimov, writing that its troops had been “shedding blood in the same trench shoulder to shoulder” with Russian forces.
Neither the Kremlin nor Pyongyang outlined specific plans for any further involvement of North Korean troops in the war.
However, North Korean state media added that Kim was “determined to make the combat sub-units of our armed forces participate in the war.” Kim further described strengthening ties with Russia as a “sacred mission.”
North Korea’s direct involvement in hostilities in Ukraine has been widely interpreted as a significant escalation to the war, and there are fears that Pyongyang’s troops, who have so far been seen fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, could be used to fight on Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
That could create spill-over effects for South Korea’s military, as well.
As reports first emerged in the fall of 2024 that Russia was receiving direct assistance from Pyongyang, South Korea had said it may consider sending lethal aid to Ukraine, which stands to pull Asia further into the war.
Ukrainian reports estimate that about 14,000 North Korean troops were sent to fight in Kursk. Many were likely killed or wounded as they were deployed in high-attrition infantry assaults.
Seoul and Washington have also repeatedly voiced concerns that North Korean troops are gaining valuable combat experience, such as lessons on how to deal with drones, from fighting in a modern war against Ukraine.
Both Gerasimov and North Korean state media reported that Kursk, which Ukraine invaded in a surprise attack in the summer of last year, had been effectively cleared of Kyiv’s forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, posted on social media on Sunday that Ukraine was still fighting at “defensive positions” in Kursk.
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