WASHINGTON – Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the United States has “confirmed evidence of the presence of North Korean forces in Russia,” adding to what appears to be a growing relationship between America’s two major adversaries. This was the first senior US official to comment on the matter. South Korean officials first sounded the alarm last week about North Korea’s sending of troops to Russia, after South Korean intelligence revealed evidence that North Korean special forces had been sent to Russia on their way to join Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. He said he was holding it.
“We still don’t know what they’re doing,” Austin said of North Korean troops stationed in Russia. He told reporters during a visit to Rome.
He said if North Korea’s military is willing to take part in Russia’s war in Ukraine, Putin, who has been gaining territory in recent months, could be in more trouble than many realize. He said that it would be an indication that there is. Some officials believe that gains on the Ukraine front were achieved at the cost of thousands of Russian troops.
South Korean authorities suspect that northern troops are being trained in Russia to fight on the front lines. South Korean intelligence estimates that about 3,000 northern troops are currently stationed in Russia, but Ukrainian authorities are also monitoring the issue, and President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Korean officials have said that North Korea will He has said he may send more than 10,000 troops to Russia by then. End of the year.
What you need to know about the BRICS summit hosted by President Putin 02:41
Ukrainian officials say they have not yet seen any North Koreans fighting in the country, but Kiev’s government on Wednesday issued a statement calling on North Korean troops fighting for Russia to surrender. Announced.
Defense officials in Washington told CBS News that North Korea’s military’s impact on the battlefield depends largely on how well-trained and equipped they are and whether they are used as elite commandos or advisors or simply He said it would depend on whether it would be used solely to inflate force numbers.
North Korea has been supplying Russia with artillery for the Ukraine war for months.
But more important than the potential battlefield consequences for North Korea’s military are the broader implications of Kim Jong Un’s isolated nuclear-armed regime’s growing support for Putin’s war effort.
At an unusual face-to-face summit in North Korea in June, Putin and Kim signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, publicly expanding economic and military cooperation and presenting a united front against the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk through a farewell ceremony prior to President Putin’s departure from Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19, 2024. Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/AFP/Getty
In the deal, the leaders pledged to defend the other country if either country came under attack, but officials in the U.S. and other Western countries’ capitals said Russia was more concerned about the Ukraine war than anything else. believed to have been keen to ensure a stable supply of North Korean weapons. .
The United States and South Korea have been concerned for months that Russia could provide North Korea with nuclear or advanced ballistic missile technology in return for Kim’s cooperation and support.
South Korea has threatened to supply arms to Ukraine in response to information that Kim was sending troops to Russia, but it has resisted this since President Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022. Ta.
The North Korean government has not commented on the suspicion of sending troops to Russia. The Russian government dismissed this as “another hoax.”
Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.
See more Charlie D’Agata
