Cho Tae-yong, the director of the National Intelligence Service, attends a meeting of the National Assembly intelligence committee on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
North Korean troops are mobilized on the Russian front lines fighting Ukraine, according to a South Korean intelligence agency briefing presented to lawmakers Wednesday.
Around 11,000 North Korean troops, many of them part of special forces, had already been trained and deployed to Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine by late October, Rep. Park Sun-won told reporters.
Park, who sits as the deputy chair of the National Assembly intelligence committee, was speaking after he was briefed by Cho Tae-yong, director of the National Intelligence Service.
The lawmaker said North Korean troops have been assigned to airborne and marine units, training in tactics and drone countermeasures, citing the NIS. Some were believed to be participating in battles.
The NIS estimates there are now 10,900 to 12,000 North Korean troops stationed in Russia, although more could be sent along with a growing supply of weapons, he said.
He said the NIS confirmed that on top of artillery shells and missiles, North Korea has shipped more conventional weapons, such as self-propelled 170 mm howitzers and 240 mm multiple rocket launchers. Additional North Korean personnel may be aiding the Russian military with operations of unfamiliar weapons.
According to Park, the NIS thinks an early end to the war is desirable.
“The longer the war lasts, the deeper the ties between Russia and North Korea are likely to get. Moscow may grow more dependent on Pyongyang, and possibly transfer advanced technology that could be dangerous in the hands of Kim Jong-un,” the lawmaker said.
The head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel Paparo, said at Brookings Institution on Tuesday that North Korea was expected to get “submarine technology and propulsion technology” in return for providing weapons and troops to Russia. He said North Korea expanding its military aid to Russia was “dangerous and transactional.”
South Korean intelligence and military officials have earlier said the Russian technology provided to North Korea could be space-related.
On Ukraine suggesting the size of the North Korean contingent to be much greater, the NIS told lawmakers its judgments were based on intelligence collected from allies as well as South Korea’s own intelligence.
“As Ukraine is in a state of war, they are engaged in psychological warfare just as Russia is. Some information out there is propaganda and not necessarily accurate. Our intelligence service is making the judgment on a combination of Ukrainian and other sources,” Park explained.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video speech to the European Parliament as the war reached 1,000 days Tuesday that North Korea’s military presence in Russia could grow to up to about 100,000.
Ponomarenko Dmytro, the Ukrainian ambassador to Seoul, told reporters Tuesday that as many as 15,000 North Korean troops were believed to already be deployed in the war, which is greater than the NIS estimate of around 11,000.
Park said the NIS believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may be planning a trip to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin. The summit, if it happens, would be a follow-up to a meeting between Putin and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who was visiting Moscow earlier this month.
The North Korean foreign minister’s visit to Russia this time was “a lot more than just ceremonial,” he said.
“Choe mostly likely shared something important and sensitive in her discussions with Putin,” the lawmaker said. He said Choe extended her stay to in a bid to accomplish the meeting with the Russian president.
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