During a U.S. Department of Defense press briefing earlier today, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that North Korea (DPRK) has sent troops to Russia. She noted that the troops are “likely” there to support the Russian military against Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region inside Russia.
During the briefing, a reporter asked, “Are there North Korean forces in Kursk right now?” Singh responded:
So, as I mentioned — it is likely that they are moving that direction, towards Kursk, but I don’t have more details just yet.
Positing that the soldiers are training in eastern Russia to augment Russian forces in Kursk, she estimated the number of DPRK troops to be approximately 10,000:
I don’t have more details on the type of troops or equipment capabilities that they have. In terms of the numbers, what I have is that, you know, we estimate approximately 10,000 are moving to train in eastern Russia. That is going to help augment Russian forces. Again, don’t have more fidelity to share right now on kind of what their makeup looks like, capabilities, etc. But, you know, we’ll of course keep you updated on that.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated that South Korea had briefed NATO and other allies on the North Korean soldiers deployed to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war, stating on X:
Officials from Seoul 🇰🇷 have briefed #NATO Allies & Indo-Pacific partners on the North Korean 🇰🇵 troop deployment to Russia.
This is:
1. a significant escalation in DPRK’s involvement
2. yet another breach of UN 🇺🇳 resolutions
3. a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the move in a post on X:
North Korean soldiers may join the battlefield against Ukraine. Ukraine could soon be forced to fight North Korean troops in Europe. These are the conditions we face, where a lack of stronger decisions from our partners to support Ukraine only encourages Putin to invest further in terror.
