North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits an undisclosed military base in this photo released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on March 6, 2024. (KCNA)
SEOUL, South Korea — The 12,000 North Korean troops sent to Russia in support of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are not a legitimate force, only cannon fodder, South Korea’s national defense minister said Thursday.
To refer to the North Koreans as “deployed troops” is “merely a phrase,” National Defense Minister Kim Yang-hyun told lawmakers during a televised parliamentary hearing in Seoul.
“Normally when troops are deployed, they … proudly perform wearing their country’s military uniforms, insignia and national flag,” he said.
The North Koreans, Kim said, are instead disguised in Russian uniforms, are under Russian military control and doing as they are told.
“I believe that, in reality, the North Korean troops are cannon fodder mercenaries,” he said.
Approximately 1,500 North Korean special forces troops arrived in Russia earlier this month via Russian navy vessels, according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service on Oct. 18. They were the first wave of 12,000 troops and were issued Russian uniforms, weapons and fake identification cards, according to the spy agency.
A North Korean representative to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday said his country’s cooperation with Russia is “friendly, legitimate” and attempts to suggest otherwise were “groundless, stereotyped rumors aimed at smearing the image” of North Korea.
The Korean Central News Agency, the North’s state-run media organization, by Thursday had yet to address reports of the country’s troop deployment.
Kim Yang-hyun told lawmakers he believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had “sold out” his forces to Russia and was “not informing his people to prevent it from being exposed.”
Russia may have supplied the North with food and weapon manufacturing supplies in exchange for around 3 million artillery rounds, Shin Won-sik, the previous South Korean national defense minister, said in February.
In June, Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged mutual support in the event either country went to war.
The U.S. State Department and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office have alleged the North had been exporting ballistic missiles and artillery shells to Russia for use against Ukrainian forces since 2023.
The U.S. confirmed the existence of North Korean forces in Russia for the first time Wednesday. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said at least 3,000 troops were shipped to eastern Russia, where they went on to “multiple Russian military training sites.”
It’s not clear that those troops will fight alongside the Russian military, but that is “certainly a highly concerning probability,” Kirby said at a news conference.
“But let’s be clear, if North Korean soldiers do enter into combat, this development would demonstrate Russia’s growing desperation in its war against Ukraine,” he said.
Putin appears intent on continuing the war despite Russia suffering “extraordinary casualties,” Kirby added.
“If Russia is indeed forced to turn to North Korea for manpower, this would be a sign of weakness, not strength, on the part of the Kremlin,” he said.
