N. Korea deploys more troops to Russia — Seoul
More than 10,000 soldiers from the reclusive state were sent to Russia last year
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said that more than 10,000 soldiers from the reclusive state were sent to Russia last year
STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) -- North Korea has sent more soldiers to Russia and redeployed several to the frontline in Kursk, Seoul’s spy agency told Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said that more than 10,000 soldiers from the reclusive state were sent to Russia last year to help it fight a shock Ukrainian offensive into the Kursk border region.
Earlier this month, Seoul said North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia’s army on the Kursk frontline had not been engaged in combat since mid-January.
Ukraine also said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
On Thursday, an official from Seoul’s National Intelligence Agency said they had been “redeployed” there.
That came alongside “some additional troop deployments appearing to have taken place,” the official added.
“The exact scale is still being assessed,” the official said.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the deployment.
But the two countries signed an agreement, including a mutual defense clause, when Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to the nuclear-armed North last year.
Ukraine has previously said it captured or killed several North Korean soldiers in Kursk.
Zelensky-Trump meet
President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet United States (US) President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to finalize a deal on US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, hoping to win guarantees of future American support.
“Guarantees of peace and security are the key to preventing Russia from destroying the lives of other nations,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.
However, Trump earlier brushed aside Ukraine’s aspirations of joining the western defense alliance NATO.
His comments came just after Russian artillery killed at least five people in Ukraine’s war-battered east and a drone barrage claimed two more lives near Kyiv, including a Ukrainian journalist.
Discussions were fraught on the minerals deal, which would grant the US preferential access to Ukrainian natural resources in exchange for security support.
Officials late on Tuesday said they had come to an agreement following protracted negotiations, but Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv that more difficult work lay ahead.
“This is a start, this is a framework agreement,” he told journalists.