Washington/Brussels: The US will not impose new limits on Ukraine’s use of American weapons if North Korea joins Russia’s war, the Pentagon said on Monday, as NATO said North Korean military units had been deployed to the Kursk region in Russia.
The North Korea deployment is fanning Western concerns that the 2½-year conflict in Ukraine could widen, even as attention shifts to the Middle East.
The North Korean deployment could signal how Russia hopes to offset mounting battlefield losses and continue making slow, steady gains in eastern Ukraine.
Some high-ranking North Korean military officials and troops deployed to Russia might move to the frontline in the Ukraine conflict, South Korean lawmakers said on Tuesday after being briefed by the country’s spy agency. The lawmakers did not give any timetable.
The Russian military was teaching military terminology to the North Korean troops, Park Sun-won, a member of a parliamentary intelligence committee, said during the briefing.
North Korea was also ready to launch another military reconnaissance satellite with the help of technological support from Moscow, the lawmakers said, citing the South’s National Intelligence Service.
Pyongyang has vowed to launch more spy satellites though its last attempt failed this year when it exploded minutes after lift-off.
“The deepening military co-operation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters after talks with a South Korean delegation about the North Korean deployments.
US President Joe Biden said the development was “very dangerous”.
The Pentagon estimated 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to eastern Russia for training, a figure up from last week’s estimate of 3000 troops.
“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,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, using a term for a Russian region.
The Kremlin initially dismissed reports about a North Korean deployment as “fake news”.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday did not deny North Korean troops were in Russia and said it was Moscow’s business how to implement a partnership treaty with Pyongyang.
Putin also said over the weekend that Moscow would respond accordingly if the US and its allies helped Ukraine strike deep into Russia, and that Moscow considers the West’s potential approval as “direct involvement of NATO” into the war.
The United States, however, has given no indication that it will approve Ukraine’s deep strike request.
A North Korean foreign ministry official did not confirm media reports about a troop deployment to Russia, but said if Pyongyang had taken such action, he believed it would be in line with international norms.
Ukrainian military intelligence said on Thursday that the first North Korean units had been recorded in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian troops have been operating since staging a major incursion in August.
But the Pentagon declined to confirm that North Korean forces were already in Kursk.
“It is likely that they are moving in that direction towards Kursk. But I don’t have more details just yet,” Singh said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move was an escalation by Russia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv had been warning about the deployment for weeks, and accused allies of failing to deliver a strong response.
“The bottom line: listen to Ukraine. The solution: lift restrictions on our long-range strikes against Russia now,” Sybiha said on X.
North Korea and Russia have upgraded their military ties since their leaders met in Russia’s far east last year. They met again in June to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership that includes a mutual defence pact.
A flurry of bilateral visits of high-ranked officials have followed between the two countries, which share a small border.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui departed Pyongyang on Monday for her second trip to Russia in six weeks.
Rutte said the North Korean deployment was a sign of Putin’s “growing desperation”.
“Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support,” Rutte said.
Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said sanctions alone would not be a sufficient response to North Korean involvement.
Yermak said Kyiv needs “weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea’s expanded involvement”.
“The enemy understands strength. Our allies have this strength,” he said on X.