SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea announced Thursday that it will send 12,000 North Korean soldiers to Russia, and pledged that it “will not stand idly by and do nothing” in the face of major “provocations.”
South Korea’s Defense Ministry shared the new estimate with NBC News after the United States joined Seoul and Kiev in confirming the development and said any forces deployed against Ukraine would be “fair game.”
Pyongyang is expected to bolster the Russian military with its large contingent of special forces, military engineers and artillery forces, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jong-hyun told lawmakers Thursday, his office told NBC News. He added that the total number is expected to reach 12,000, and 3,000 of them have already been deployed.
This matches Washington’s assessment.
“It’s fair game,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the United States believes at least 3,000 North Korean troops have already arrived in eastern Russia by sea. Kirby said the soldiers moved in this month and are being trained at several Russian military bases.
He added: “They are fair goals, and the Ukrainian army will defend itself against North Korean soldiers in the same way they defend themselves against Russian soldiers.” “It is possible that there are dead and wounded North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine.”
