South Korean delegation to visit Ukraine to discuss DPRK troops and cooperation
29 October, 2024 The flag of Ukraine and South Korea. Photo from open source A South Korean delegation will visit Ukraine this week to share information about North Korea's (DPRK) troop deployment to Russia and discuss cooperation.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stated this, according to the Yonhap news agency. The politician announced this during a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who confirmed that North Korean troops were deployed in the Kursk region of Russia. Yoon Suk Yeol also shared that the South Korean delegation plans to brief the EU Political and Security Committee on Tuesday.
Then, they will visit Ukraine to meet with intelligence and defense officials to exchange information from the battlefield and discuss cooperation measures.
North Korean soldiers during the parade. Photo: BLOOMBERGThe South Korean President emphasized that military cooperation between Russia and the DPRK undermines international order and threatens peace. "This illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea fundamentally undermines the rules-based international order and threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and the world," Yoon Suk Yeol said.
The day before, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported that 3,000 North Korean soldiers were already fighting on the side of Russia, and their number would soon increase to 12,000. "North Korean soldiers and officers are already on the territory of Russia, and they are already being used on our territory. Three thousand North Korean soldiers.
We believe that the information from our intelligence is true, and they will soon have 12,000. This should happen soon enough," Zelensky reported during the Ukraine-Northern Europe Summit in Reykjavik. He also added that the DPRK constantly provides Russia with artillery shells. "I can give you a figure - 3.5 million artillery shells.
They also transfer a lot of missiles.
We have fragments of these missiles for those partners who did not believe in it," the President of Ukraine said.
Background
Ukrainian intelligence reported that the training of the North Korean army soldiers who had arrived in Russia was taking place at five military training grounds located in the east of the aggressor country: "Baranovsky," "Donguz," "Yekaterinoslavsky," 248th, and 249th.
A North Korean military expert with Kim.Photo credits: NHK World Japan
South Korean intelligence says it has identified a North Korean missile engineer who participated in the launch of ballistic missiles into Ukraine.