Air Force Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with his South Korean counterpart, Adm. Kim Myung-soo, in Tokyo, July 17, 2024. (James Mullen/U.S. Navy)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The top U.S. and South Korean military leaders met virtually recently to discuss “recent grave security developments,” including reports that hundreds of North Korean troops are aiding Russian forces in Ukraine, according to the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown and his South Korean counterpart, Adm. Kim Myung-soo, were joined Friday by Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, according to a Joint Chiefs news release Friday.
The four comprised the allies’ annual military committee meeting, which usually alternates between Seoul and Washington, D.C., but due to recent events took place virtually, according to the release.
Brown and Kim discussed North Korea and Russia’s military cooperation, which “destabilizes peace and security on the [Korean] Peninsula and across the globe,” the release said.
In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in Pyongyang to mutual support if either country was at war.
Around 1,500 North Korean troops began deploying Oct. 8 to Russia to support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in a release Friday.
The North Koreans were transported in Russian ships and issued Russian uniforms, weapons and fake identification cards, according to the agency.
Six North Korean troops were among the 20 dead following a Ukrainian missile strike near Donetsk on Oct. 3, the Kyiv Post reported the next day, citing unnamed intelligence officials.
The North Koreans had deployed to the Russia-Ukraine border, according to Ukrainian reports.
“We will continue to track and confirm military cooperation developments between Russia and North Korea through close intelligence cooperation with allies,” the National Intelligence Service said Friday.
The chairmen also “expressed concerns” with security on the peninsula, namely North Korea’s “threats across all domains, including increasing missile capabilities, nuclear threats, cyber-attacks,” the Joint Chiefs release states.
Admiral Kim during the meeting referred to recent North Korea actions as illegitimate, including the launch of hundreds of balloons laden with trash into the South and revising the country’s constitution to describe the South as a “hostile state,” according to the release.
North Korea has floated thousands of balloons tethered to bags of trash across the inter-Korean border since May. The state-run Korean Central News Agency claims the act is a response to balloons carrying humanitarian aid and anti-communist propaganda leaflets sent by South Korean activist groups.
North Korea’s parliament earlier this month amended the country’s constitution to “clearly” define the South as a hostile nation, KCNA reported Oct. 17. The report came two days after the North blew up two abandoned inter-Korean roads to further isolate the two countries from each other.
