North Korea has remained silent on its deployment of troops to Russia to aid its prolonged war against Ukraine, in the latest sign of growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

On Friday, South Korea’s spy agency announced that North Korea had decided to send around 12,000 special forces to support Russia, with approximately 1,500 of them already deployed to Russia’s Far East.

This marks the first time North Korea has deployed ground troops on such a large scale, although it has previously dispatched small numbers of soldiers abroad to earn foreign currency.

North Korea has not released any official statement on its troop deployment to Russia.

The last time North Korea reported on the Ukraine war was Oct. 12, when the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper, published an article quoting a Russian military commander who claimed that Ukraine had used chemical weapons.

Russia has also not issued any formal reaction since South Korea’s National Intelligence Service made public North Korea’
s troop deployment.

Observers say it would be difficult for North Korea to deny the dispatch due to evidence and may also be hesitant to publicize the deployment as sending soldiers into an active war zone would likely cause anxiety among its citizens.

“It is unlikely that North Korea will confirm this before Russia does,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

Hong said since neither the United States nor the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has confirmed the deployment, it remains to be seen whether North Korean forces will actually engage in combat in the Ukraine war.

Regarding the situation, the South Korean government said it is closely monitoring developments.

“We are keeping all possibilities open and are carefully observing the situation,” said Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesperson for the unification ministry, during a press briefing.

The defense ministry denounced North Korea over the latest development and vowed to take necessary measures to guard
the safety of South Koreans.

“North Korea taking part in Russia’s war of invasion is an illegal act that violates the U.N. Security Council resolutions and one that should be criticized by the international community,” Jeon Ha-kyou, the spokesperson for the ministry, told a regular press briefing.

“We sternly denounce North Korea’s behavior and strongly warn (the North) to immediately halt it,” Jeon said, vowing to seek “necessary measures.”

When asked if such measures could include South Korea’s possible provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine, the official said the ministry will review measures with an open attitude.

Source: Yonhap News Agency