The US confirms for the first time the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia to fight in Ukraine

The United States assured this Wednesday for the first time that it was aware of the presence of North Korean troops in Russian territory. At the same time, the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) estimated about 3,000 the number of soldiers already sent by Pyongyang to Russia, where they would be receiving training to join the Kremlin troops fighting in Ukraine.

The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austinstressed this Wednesday that It would be “very, very serious” if the North Koreans prepared to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as kyiv has alleged, although it acknowledged that it has yet to be determined what they would be doing there.

“There is evidence that there are North Korean troops in Russia,” Austin acknowledged at a press conference.

The possible entry of North Korea into the Ukrainian warContributing personnel to the Russian ranks has occupied a central place in the speeches of the Ukrainian president for days, Volodymyr Zelenskywhich in its last address to the nation asked its allies to take concrete and urgent measures to dissuade Pyongyang from becoming directly involved in the conflict.

“It is clear that Pyongyang, like Moscow, does not care about people and does not value human life. But all of us in the world are equally interested in ending the war, not prolonging it. This is why we must stop Russia and its allies together“Zelensky noted on Tuesday night.

The Ukrainian president showed his frustration over the absence of effective decisions to stop the escalation which, in the opinion of kyiv and its main allies, would mean the North Korean troop deploymentwhich according to Ukrainian authorities has already sent instructors to the territories that Russia occupies in Ukraine so that the Russian Army can use the ballistic missiles it receives from Pyongyang.

“If North Korea can intervene in the war in Europe, it is clear that the pressure on that regime is not enough,” Zelensky also stated, who claimed to have information that Russia is working on the creation of two brigades which could be made up of 6,000 North Korean soldiers each.

South Korean intelligence assured on October 18 that North Korea has decided to send Russia to join the Kremlin troops fighting in Ukraine. 12,000 soldiers from the communist countrywho have not participated in an active conflict since the armistice that ended the Korean War (1950-1953) was signed more than seventy years ago.

Of this amount, at least 3,000 would already be receiving training on Russian soil to join the war in Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian military intelligence sources this week, 18 of the 40 North Korean soldiers who had instructed Russian soldiers in the use of balloons for military purposes, while receiving training in modern infantry tactics in the Kursk Oblast, left the place that had been assigned to them when they did not receive orders or food for several days.

Pyongyang had promised to provide a total of about 10,000 troopswhose deployment was expected to be completed in December, lawmakers told reporters after being briefed by South Korea’s national intelligence agency.

Among the reactions of kyiv’s allies to the information about the deployment of North Korean soldiers in Russia, that of United Kingdomwhich through its Foreign Ministry has condemned “in the strongest terms” the shipments of North Korean weapons to the Kremlin Army and Pyongyang’s alleged contribution to the Russian war effort with soldiers.

While, Germany This Wednesday he summoned the North Korean chargé d’affaires in the country to express his concern about the escalation that the entry of North Korean soldiers into the conflict would entail.