South Korea’s military has detected signs that North Korea is gearing up to increase its deployment of troops and military equipment to Russia as it focuses on bolstering its alliance with Moscow, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
“(The North) has been reporting merely fact-based negative images (of the South on the political situation here) rather than the active criticism of the past,” the JCS said, pointing out that Pyongyang has scaled back its criticism of the South.
“We expect the North to focus on expanding its military cooperation with Russia, while (blocking any domestic and external risks) and bolstering measures to protect the Kim Jong-un regime,” it added.
Multiple intelligence reports claimed that Pyongyang is preparing to increase the number of troops deployed in Russia against Ukraine or rotate its existing forces, the JCS explained. The reports added that the North has supplied 240-millimeter rocket launchers and 170-millimeter self-propelled artillery. Suicide attack drones, manufactured and supplied by the North, could be provided to Moscow, based on Kim Jong-un’s on-site inspections of such weapons reported by Pyongyang’s state media last month.
A JCS official, who requested anonymity, told reporters that the military is closely watching the “timing” of the second troop deployment as it is yet to be confirmed. It is also closely cooperating with related foreign agencies in monitoring whether the number of troops deployed will exceed “the previous 11,000."
South Korea’s spy agency has said that 11,000 North Korean troops are believed to have been deployed to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine. The number of casualties is estimated to be around 1,100.
On the North’s production of suicide drones, the official said that while it is a project that is being pursued by Pyongyang, “signs of mass production” have yet to be detected.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
