CNN
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North Korean soldiers were photographed receiving uniforms and equipment at a training ground in Russia’s Far East, and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said 1,500 soldiers were being transported to Ukraine for military training. This appears to support the report.
North Korean troops are believed to be undergoing training before being sent to the front lines in Ukraine, a clear sign of increasingly close ties between Moscow and North Korea. There is.
A video shared with CNN by the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security, a Ukrainian government agency, shows long lines of soldiers lining up to receive their uniforms. The soldiers are believed to be speaking Korean, but the audio quality was so poor that their conversations were not fully understandable.
North Korean recruits arriving in Russia were asked to fill out a questionnaire indicating their cap, hat, uniform, and shoe size. In a copy of the survey shared with CNN, the top of the form is written in Russian, while the various size options are written in Korean.
Another video circulating on social media, located by CNN, showed troops arriving at the Sergeyevka training ground near the Russia-China border. In the video, a Russian speaker can be heard saying in the background, “You can’t film them,” before adding: “You can’t film them.” This is a new reinforcement. This is just the beginning. There are others too. ”
This evidence appears to confirm long-standing concerns in Kiev that North Korea is preparing to play a more direct role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the deepening alliance between Russia and North Korea, telling this week’s NATO summit that “thousands” of North Korean troops were heading toward Russia.
“According to the information that I have received… they are preparing 10,000 soldiers, various soldiers, ground troops, technical personnel,” Zelenskyy told reporters, adding that this has not been raised with the U.S. side. He explained that this was an “urgent” development.
South Korean media earlier reported that North Korea would send a total of 12,000 troops, but this figure was not included in the National Intelligence Service’s statement.
This could be North Korea’s first major intervention in an international conflict. North Korea has one of the world’s largest armed forces, with 1.2 million soldiers, many of whom have little combat experience.
Multiple governments have accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Moscow for its violent war in Ukraine, but both countries deny this charge despite significant evidence of such supplies. I am doing it.
The two countries, pariahs in the West, have developed increasingly warm relations since the Russian invasion.
During President Putin’s visit to the North Korean capital in June, the two countries agreed to provide immediate military assistance by any means necessary if the other country is attacked, as part of a landmark defense pact agreed by the authoritarian nations. I promised.
During his visit, President Putin said that relations between the two countries were being strengthened to a “new level”.
In remarks ahead of their meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed “full support and solidarity with the struggle of the Russian government, military, and people,” and specifically criticized Moscow’s war in Ukraine as “a threat to our country’s sovereignty.” “To protect,” he said. Security and territorial stability. ”
