North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches troops fire their rifles at an undisclosed military base, March 6, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — North Korean forces are “highly likely” to be fighting with their Russian counterparts in Ukraine, South Korea’s defense minister told lawmakers Tuesday in Seoul.
An Oct. 4 report in the Kyiv Post that six North Korean military officers were killed the previous day by a Ukrainian missile strike near Donetsk is probably true, Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said during a televised hearing.
North Korean troops were likely sent to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine after Pyongyang and Moscow agreed in June to provide each other with military aid, Kim told members of the National Assembly.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty stating they will “provide military and other assistance … without delay” if one of them is “in a state of war.”
Kim Yong-hyun on Tuesday likened the treaty to a “military alliance” and said it was “highly likely” North Korean troops were deployed to Ukraine.
The six North Koreans were among 20 soldiers killed in the Oct. 3 missile strike, unnamed intelligence sources told the Kyiv Post. Three North Koreans were wounded in the attack, the report said.
North Korean troops train at an undisclosed military base, March 6, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency)
Defense Minister Kim told lawmakers that the report of North Korean deaths was likely to be true.
South Korea is continuing to monitor the situation and has “repeatedly expressed grave concerns” about Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea, Ministry of Unification spokesman Koo Byung-sam said during a news conference Monday.
North Korea had already provided Russia with arms during its invasion of Ukraine, now 2 years and 7 months old, according to the South Korean military and Defense Intelligence Agency.
South Korean lawmakers citing an agency report in August said Pyongyang has given Russia over 13,000 containers filled with artillery rounds and missiles since 2022.
In February, then-South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik accused the North of providing roughly three million artillery rounds to Russia.
The U.S. State Department in a joint statement with over 50 countries alleged that Russia imported and used North Korean ballistic missiles against Ukraine between Dec. 30, 2023, and Jan. 2.
“The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia’s war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime,” the joint statement said Jan. 9. “Russia’s use of [North Korean] ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights to [North Korea].”
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency has characterized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a special military operation to counter U.S. and NATO influence in Europe.
“Far from seriously reflecting on its mistake of creating the Ukrainian incident, NATO … is going to shift the blame for it onto others and justify its policy of aggression,” KCNA reported Sunday. “This is just the same as the shameless act of the U.S. engrossed in extreme double standards and illogical way of thinking.”
