North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte said Monday he shared concerns with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol regarding North Korea’s preparations for troop dispatch to Russia during their phone talks.

In a post on social media platform X, Rutte said he had a discussion with Yoon about the alliance’s “close partnership with Seoul,” focusing on defense industrial cooperation and the interconnected security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions.

“North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine would mark a significant escalation,” Rutte wrote in a post on X.

On Friday, the National Intelligence Service said the North has decided to send around 12,000 troops to support Russia in the war in Ukraine, with roughly 1,500 soldiers already sent to the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok aboard Russian naval vessels.

Source: Yonhap News Agency