Ukraine's Zelensky says North Korea may send up to 100,000 troops to Russia

Ukraine's Zelensky says North Korea may send up to 100,000 troops to Russia
by Thomas Maresca
Washington DC (UPI) Nov 20, 2024

North Korea could deploy up to 100,000 troops to aid Moscow in its war against Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned, amid reports that the North was also sending additional long-range artillery systems to Russia.

Zelensky made the remark during a brief video address to the European parliament Tuesday at a special session marking the 1,000th day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in February 2022.

"Now, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has brought 11,000 North Korean troops to Ukraine's borders," Zelensky said. "This contingent may grow to 100,000."

Zelensky called on European leaders to rally behind Ukraine at a moment when Russia is making gains on the battlefield and concerns swirl around the future of U.S. support under President-elect Donald Trump.

"Even with North Korea's Kim Jong Un by his side, Putin remains smaller than the United States of Europe," Zelensky said.

"Putin is focused on winning this war," he added. "He will not stop on his own. The more time he has, the worse the conditions become. Every 'today' is the best moment to push Russia harder."

Zelensky did not offer further details of the North Korean troop deployment, but his figure of 100,000 echoed an interview Ukraine's Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko gave to the Korean-language Voice of America service last week.

Ponomarenko said that Kyiv expects 10,000 to 15,000 troops to be deployed to the Kursk region of southwest Russia and possibly the occupied eastern Ukraine territories of Donetsk. Regular rotations of 10,000 to 15,000 North Korean soldiers would then take place every two to three months, he added.

"About 100,000 highly skilled North Korean soldiers who have experienced modern warfare will be produced in one year," Ponomarenko said. "This will have a significant impact on the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

Washington has estimated that roughly 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have occupied hundreds of square miles since a surprise incursion in August. The U.S. State Department last week confirmed that the North's troops had begun combat operations.

On Wednesday, South Korea's spy agency briefed lawmakers on the North Korean deployment, offering further details on their activities and confirming that troops had entered combat, news agency Yonhap reported.

"Having been assigned to Russia's airborne brigade or marine corps, (some) are undergoing training in tactics and drone response, while others are assessed to have participated in combat," the National Intelligence Service told the closed-door briefing, according to People Power Party Rep. Lee Seong-kweun and Democratic Party Rep. Park Sun-won.

The NIS also said that North Korea has sent additional long-range artillery systems to Russia, including 170mm self-propelled howitzers and 240mm multiple rocket launchers.

Moscow, meanwhile, said Tuesday that Ukraine had attacked Russian soil for the first time with U.S.-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles, shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly gave permission for the weapons to be used against targets inside Russia.

Shortly after the strikes, Putin approved changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine that would lower the threshold for using the weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference during the Group of 20 summit in Brazil on Tuesday that the ATACMS attack signals a "desire for escalation."

Washington, however, has pointed to the entry of North Korean troops as the main catalyst for the war's expansion.

"It has been Russia that has escalated the conflict time and time again," U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said at a press briefing Monday. "And that includes just in the recent month when Russia recruited the deployment of more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers who are now on the front lines in Kursk engaging in combat operations against the Ukrainian military."

"That is a major escalation by Russia, bringing in an Asian military to a conflict inside Europe," Miller said.