North Korea allegedly provided more troops to Russia for support in their war in Ukraine, according to South Korea’s spy agency.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service announced it detected new troop movements from North Korea but did not specify how many troops have been deployed to Russia recently. Their statement came after a local news outlet, JoongAng, reported that North Korea had sent another 1,000-3,000 troops since January via ship and cargo planes.
North Korea sent roughly 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia in the fall, in addition to large shipments of artillery shells, and munitions, according to U.S. officials. Those troops were largely deployed to the Kursk region of Russia, the one area of Russian territory that Ukraine is currently occupying, which the Ukrainians captured in a surprise offensive.
After suffering heavy casualties along the front lines in Kursk, the North Korea forces pulled back. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month they’ve now returned to the front lines.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned last month that Russia “has the intent to share space and satellite technology” with North Korea, in addition to “providing military equipment to the DPRK” and training.
Russia and North Korea have deepened their partnership over the course of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has now gone on for more than three years. Russia has accepted military aid from North Korea and Iran to aid its offensive, while China has been accused of aiding Moscow’s defense industrial base.
The development that North Korea provided more troops to Russia in recent weeks comes as a monumental shift has taken place on the global stage from the United States.
US-UKRAINE RELATIONSHIP REACHES INFLECTION POINT ON THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF WAR
Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. gave Ukraine tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid to support its armed forces against Russian aggression and rallied its NATO allies to do the same, whereas the Trump administration wants to see the war end, even if it’s not under unideal terms for Ukraine.
President Donald Trump’s administration has begun the early stages of these negotiations this month, though it’s unclear whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin will agree to a deal to end the conflict he started.
The president is pursuing a U.S.-Ukraine agreement that is close to being finalized, he said, which effectively gives the U.S. a portion of the revenue Ukraine gets from natural resources and rare minerals as a way to pay back the U.S. for the military support provided in recent years.