Pentagon chief Austin confirms North Korea has sent troops to Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there is evidence that North Korea has sent troops to Russia on Monday, and South Korea’s spy chief told lawmakers that 3,000 North Korean troops are in the country receiving training on drones and other equipment before being deployed to battlefields in Ukraine.

Austin told reporters Wednesday “What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out,” according to a video posted by the Washington Post.

If the troops join the war in Ukraine on Russia’s side, it will be “a very, very serious issue,” Austin said, adding it would have an impact in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific region.

South Korean intelligence first publicized reports that the Russian navy had taken 1,500 North Korean special warfare troops to Russia last week, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korea soldiers were being prepared to join the invading Russian forces.

The U.S. and NATO had not previously formally confirmed North Korea’s reported troop dispatch, but have warned of the danger of such a development if true. Russia and North Korea have so far denied the troop movements.

South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong told lawmakers that said another 1,500 North Korean troops have entered Russia in a closed-door meeting, according to lawmaker Park Sunwon, who attended the briefing.

Cho told lawmakers that his agency assessed that North Korea aims to deploy a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December, Park told reporters.

Park cited Cho as saying the 3,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia have been split among multiple military bases and are in training. Cho told lawmakers that NIS believes they have yet to be deployed in battle, according to Park.

Speaking jointly with Park about the NIS briefing, lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun said that the NIS found that the Russian military is now teaching those North Korean soldiers how to use military equipment such as drones.

Lee cited the NIS chief as saying Russian instructors have high opinions of the morale and physical strength of the North Korean soldiers but think they will eventually suffer a heavy causalities because they lack an understanding of modern warfare. Lee, citing Cho, said Russia is recruiting a large number of interpreters.

Lee said NIS has detected signs that North Korea is relocating family members of soldiers chosen to be sent to Russia to special sites to isolate them.

The NIS chief told lawmakers that North Korea hasn’t disclosed its troop dispatch to its own people. But there are rumors that the news is spreading to local residents, including those whose loved ones have been assigned Russian tours, Lee said, citing the NIS.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate head, Kyrylo Budanov, told the online military news outlet The War Zone that North Korean troops will arrive to Russia’s Kursk region today to help Russian troops fighting off a Ukrainian incursion.

North Korea and Russia, embroiled in separate confrontations with the West, have been sharply boosting their cooperation in the past two years. In June, they signed a major defense deal requiring both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

The NIS said last week that North Korea had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

Reports that the North is sending troops to Russia stoked security jitters in South Korea. South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that could boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.

South Korea said Tuesday it would consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to the North’s reported troop dispatch. South Korea has shipped humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine, but it has so far avoided directly supplying arms to Ukraine in line with its policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.

North Korea has 1.2 million troops, one of the largest standing armies in the world, but it hasn’t fought in large-scale conflicts since the 1950-53 Korean War. Many experts question how much North Korean troops would help Russia, citing a shortage of battle experience. They say North Korea wants to get Russian economic support and its help to modernize the North’s outdated conventional weapons systems as well as its high-tech weapons technology transfers.

韩国首尔（美联社）——美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀周一表示，有证据表明朝鲜已向俄罗斯派遣军队。韩国情报局局长告诉议员，3000名朝鲜士兵正在韩国接受无人机和其他装备的训练，之后将被部署到乌克兰战场。

据《华盛顿邮报》发布的一段视频显示，奥斯汀周三告诉记者：“他们到底在做什么？这还有待观察。这些都是我们需要弄清楚的事情。”

奥斯汀表示，如果这些部队加入俄罗斯一方参与乌克兰战争，那将是一个“非常非常严重的问题”，并补充说，这将对欧洲和印太地区产生影响。

韩国情报部门上周率先公布了俄罗斯海军将 1500 名朝鲜特种作战部队运往俄罗斯的消息，而乌克兰总统泽连斯基此前曾表示，他的政府掌握情报，称有 10000 名朝鲜士兵正在准备加入入侵的俄罗斯军队。

美国和北约此前并未正式证实有关朝鲜增兵的报道，但已警告称，如果此事属实，将会带来危险。俄罗斯和朝鲜迄今为止均否认了这一增兵行动。

据出席简报会的议员朴善元透露，韩国国家情报院院长赵泰龙在一次闭门会议上告诉议员们，另有1500名朝鲜士兵已进入俄罗斯。

朴槿惠告诉记者，赵某告诉议员，他的机构评估认为，朝鲜计划在12月前向俄罗斯部署共计1万名士兵。

朴槿惠援引赵显东的话称，派往俄罗斯的3000名朝鲜士兵已被分散部署到多个军事基地接受训练。朴槿惠还表示，赵显东告诉议员，朝鲜国家情报院认为这些士兵尚未被部署到战场上。

与朴槿惠共同出席国情院简报会的议员李成权表示，国情院发现俄罗斯军方目前正在教朝鲜士兵如何使用无人机等军事装备。

李援引韩国国家情报院院长的话称，俄罗斯教官对朝鲜士兵的士气和体能评价很高，但认为他们最终会伤亡惨重，因为他们缺乏对现代战争的了解。李还援引赵的话称，俄罗斯正在招募大量翻译人员。

李表示，美国国土安全部已发现迹象表明，朝鲜正在将选定送往俄罗斯的士兵的家属转移到特殊地点进行隔离。

韩国国家情报院院长告诉国会议员，朝鲜尚未向本国民众透露其军队派遣情况。但李援引国家情报院的消息称，有传言称该消息正在当地居民中传播，包括那些亲属被派往俄罗斯服役的居民。

乌克兰军事情报局局长基里洛·布达诺夫告诉在线军事新闻媒体“战区”，朝鲜军队将于今天抵达俄罗斯库尔斯克地区，帮助俄罗斯军队击退乌克兰的入侵。

朝鲜和俄罗斯虽然分别与西方存在对抗，但在过去两年里，两国的合作显著加强。今年6月，双方签署了一项重要的防务协议，协议要求两国在任何一方遭受攻击时，动用一切可用手段立即提供军事援助。

俄罗斯国家情报院上周表示，自2023年8月以来，朝鲜已向俄罗斯运送了超过13000个集装箱的火炮、导弹和其他常规武器，以补充其日益减少的武器库存。

有报道称朝鲜正在向俄罗斯派兵，这加剧了韩国的安全担忧。韩国官员担心，俄罗斯可能会向朝鲜提供先进武器技术作为回报，从而增强朝鲜针对韩国的核武器和导弹计划。

韩国周二表示，将考虑向乌克兰提供武器，以回应朝鲜据称向乌克兰增派军队的举动。韩国已向乌克兰提供了人道主义援助和财政支持，但迄今为止，韩国一直避免直接向乌克兰提供武器，这符合其不向积极卷入冲突的国家提供武器的政策。

朝鲜拥有120万军队，是世界上规模最大的常备军之一，但自1950-53年朝鲜战争以来，它就未曾参与过大规模冲突。许多专家质疑朝鲜军队能为俄罗斯提供多少帮助，理由是朝鲜缺乏实战经验。他们认为，朝鲜希望获得俄罗斯的经济支持，以及俄罗斯帮助其更新老旧的常规武器系统并引进高科技武器技术。