On October 15, a week after South Korea's spy agency warned in internal reports that the first deployment of North Korean soldiers had already arrived in Russia, several Ukrainian media outlets claimed that 18 fighters from Kim Jong-un's regime had already deserted. Or at least, they had attempted to.
According to these reports, North Korean troops had been sent to training camps near the front lines in the Russian regions of Kursk and Bryansk, about seven kilometers from the border with Ukraine. A group of these soldiers tried to escape by taking advantage of a moment when they were in an isolated wooded area without the local instructors watching. They couldn't get far because they were quickly captured by Russian forces.
"You should not die senselessly on foreign soil", reads a message posted this week in Korean on Telegram by Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), offering protection, food, and accommodation to North Korean soldiers who manage to escape. "Thousands of Russian soldiers made the right decision and now await the end of the war in comfortable barracks with three meals a day and medical assistance," the text continues.
On Wednesday, after Seoul and Kiev repeatedly pointed out that Pyongyang had sent soldiers to support Putin in his war in Ukraine, the United States and NATO confirmed that indeed, Kim Jong-un had deployed troops in Russia.
"There is evidence that at this moment there are North Korean troops in Russia. If their intention is to participate in the war on behalf of Moscow, this is a very serious matter. This would have repercussions not only in Europe but also in the Asia-Pacific region," said US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin, confirming information from South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), the first to warn that around 1,500 North Korean soldiers had been sent between October 8 and 13 to the Russian Far East for training in the trenches.
Washington's National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, also added that they believe Pyongyang had sent another 1,500 assets from its special forces. In other words, there would be 3,000 North Korean soldiers receiving training in Russia.
"We recognize the potential danger this entails. We will speak with allies and partners, including Ukrainians, about what the appropriate next steps will be. If these North Korean troops fight against Ukraine, they will become legitimate military targets," Kirby said.
NATO was the latest to speak out in a statement, confirming that they also had evidence of the deployment of North Korean troops. "If these troops are intended to fight in Ukraine, it would mark a significant escalation in North Korea's support for Russia's illegal war and another sign of Russia's significant losses on the front," it stated.
In Seoul, Park Sun-won, a South Korean lawmaker and member of a parliamentary intelligence committee, also explained that in September and October they detected signs that troops were being sent from the neighboring country and that, according to reliable information held by lawmakers, Kim Jong-un's regime had promised Moscow to send over 10,000 soldiers. The full deployment, according to Seoul lawmakers, will be completed by December.
The newspaper Kyiv Independent recently reported statements from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regarding the reasons why Pyongyang would be supporting Putin's war.
"I think it's for money. North Korea is very poor, that's why they will send their people to the front," Zelensky said according to this outlet. "We have located North Korean officers and technical personnel in occupied territories. I think they were sent to understand what was happening and then they will send the contingent," the Ukrainian continued. "But how are they directed? How are they given orders? I mean the language. I think these are serious difficulties."
The news about North Korean troops being sent to train in Russia comes four months after Putin and Kim signed a mutual defense agreement in Pyongyang, the same agreement that, as reported from Moscow, was ratified by the Russian Lower House of Parliament on Thursday.