North Korea yesterday confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia, with state news agency KCNA reporting Pyongyang’s soldiers helped Moscow reclaim territory under Ukrainian control in the Russian border region of Kursk.
The admission comes just days after Moscow confirmed North Korea’s participation, while Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday heralded the “feat” of Pyongyang’s troops.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have long reported that Pyongyang sent more than 10,000 troops to help in Kursk last year.
Photo: AP
North Korean forces “participated in the operations for liberating the Kursk areas,” North Korea’s Central Military Commission said in the KCNA report.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s decision to deploy the troops, it said, was in accordance with a mutual defense treaty.
“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim said, KCNA reported.
Kim added that a monument to the “battle feats” would soon be built in the capital, and referred to “the tombstones of the fallen soldiers,” publicly confirming that North Korean troops had been killed in combat.
The nation must “take important national measures to specially honor and care for the families of war veterans,” Kim said.
The Russian president praised Moscow’s “Korean friends” for their backing in Kursk.
“We appreciate it a lot and are deeply grateful to comrade Kim Jong-un personally ... and the North Korean people,” the Kremlin cited Putin as saying.
Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov on Saturday said that North Korean troops “provided significant assistance in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces.”
The South Korean Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that Pyongyang “has admitted to its own criminal acts” which contravene UN Security Council resolutions.
China, North Korea’s key economic benefactor which has repeatedly condemned Western backing for Ukraine, declined to comment specifically on the admission from Pyongyang.
“China’s position on the Ukraine crisis issue is consistent and clear,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said.
Analysts believe the decision to publicly disclose the deployment had been agreed in advance by North Korea and Russia.
“They judged that the benefits of compensation for the troop deployment outweighed the potential damage to their international image,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
By promising state benefits to the deployed troops, North Korea could also “sufficiently ease [any] internal backlash,” he said. “North Korea likely aimed to showcase that victory was achieved thanks to their involvement, thereby securing greater rewards from Russia.”
Despite Moscow claiming the “liberation” of its western region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said that his military was still fighting in Kursk.
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