The Pentagon has claimed that an estimated 10,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia to train and fight against Ukraine in “the next several weeks”, significantly increasing the estimated number of soldiers deployed by North Korea and raising fears the war in Ukraine could widen as a result of Pyongyang’s military intervention, reports Al Jazeera.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Monday that some of the 10,000 North Korean troops deployed to eastern Russia for training – up from an initial US estimate of 3,000 troops last week – have moved closer to the Ukrainian border.
“A portion of those soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine, and we are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk Oblast near the border with Ukraine,” Singh told reporters.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said the North Korean military deployment threatened both his country’s national security and the international community, denouncing on Tuesday what he described as “illegal” military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
Moscow initially dismissed reports about North Korean involvement in its war on Ukraine as “fake news”. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has not denied that North Korean troops are in Russia and said it was an internal matter of how he implemented any partnership treaty with Pyongyang.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
