U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that about 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed in Russia near the Ukrainian border and could be deployed into combat “in the coming days”.
Speaking at a press conference with South Korean officials in Washington, Blinken revealed that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to Russia in total, with most now positioned in the Kursk region after initial training in Russia’s far east.
“One of the reasons that Russia is turning to these North Korean troops is that it’s desperate,” Blinken said, calling it “a clear sign of weakness” from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The announcement came hours after North Korea test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew for a record 86 minutes, raising concerns about potential military technology exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told South Korean radio on Wednesday that the deployment was imminent and designed to test U.S. and South Korean responses.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that North Korean troops would become “legitimate military targets” if they engaged in combat against Ukraine, while the U.S. envoy to the UN said they would “surely return in body bags”.
The Pentagon and South Korea’s defence minister on Thursday called for North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia.
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