North Korea confirms it sent troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine

SEOUL South Korea AP North Korea endorsed Monday for the first time that it sent troops to Russia to sponsorship its war against Ukraine saying the deployment was meant to help Russia regain its Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last year U S South Korean and Ukraine intelligence functionaries have commented North Korea dispatched about - troops to Russia last fall in its first participation in a major armed conflict since the end of the - Korean War But North Korea hadn t ratified or denied its stated troop deployments to Russia until Monday The North Korean announcement came two days after Russia stated its troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region Ukrainian functionaries denied the claim North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send combat troops to Russia under a mutual defense treaty signed by him and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June the North s Central Military Commission declared in a message carried by state media The treaty considered the two countries biggest defense agreement since the end of the Cold War requires both nations to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked The declaration cited Kim as saying the deployment was meant to annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland Kim reported Kim stated that a monument will soon be erected in Pyongyang to mark North Korea s battle feats and that flowers will be laid before the tombstones of the fallen soldiers Kim announced the establishment must take actions to preferentially treat and take care of the families of the soldiers who took part in the war The North Korean declaration didn t say how several troops North Korea eventually sent and how numerous of them had died But in March South Korea s military stated that around North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the Russia-Ukraine war fronts the South Korean military also assessed at the time that North Korea sent about additional troops to Russia earlier this year North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained but observers say they ve become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain Still Ukrainian military and intelligence functionaries have assessed that the North Koreans gained crucial battlefield experience and have been key to Russia s strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk In a Kremlin meeting Saturday Valery Gerasimov chief of the general staff for Russia s armed forces informed Putin of Russia s regaining of the Kursk region Gerasimov also approved that North Korean soldiers fought alongside Russia to repel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region and demonstrated high professionalism evidenced fortitude courage and heroism in battle Ukraine s General Staff countered that its defensive operation in certain areas in Kursk was continuing If established Russia s supremacy in Kursk would deprive Ukraine of key leverage in U S -brokered efforts to negotiate an end to the more than -year-old war by exchanging its gains for particular of Russia-occupied land in Ukraine On Saturday President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Vatican City on the sidelines of funeral of Pope Francis to discuss a expected ceasefire deal Shortly after arriving in Rome on Friday Trump explained on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for very high-level talks on ending the war But less than hours later Trump revealed he doubted Putin s willingness to end the war In March Kim expressed his unwavering sponsorship for Russia s war in Ukraine during a meeting with a top Russian guard official Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang State media reports stated Kim and Shoigu reaffirmed their commitment to uphold the mutual defense treaty Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko described Russian media the governments were discussing a possible visit by Kim to Moscow North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia as well South Korea the U S and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons scheme North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia as well Source