By TARA COPP, MATTHEW LEE and EDITH M. LEDERER

WASHINGTON (AP) — About 8,000 North Korean troops are now in Russia, near the border with Ukraine, and are preparing to help the Kremlin. Fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.the Biden administration said Thursday.

The new figure marks a dramatic increase from the previous day, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said only that some troops had moved toward Ukraine’s border in the Kursk region, where Moscow’s forces have fought to beat back a Ukrainian incursion.

That would also mean that most of the North Korean troops that the United States and its allies say have been sent to Russia are now on the border with Ukraine.

The United States has estimated that a total of about 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia. Seoul and its allies estimated that the number has risen to 11,000, while Ukraine has raised the number to 12,000.

Of the 8,000 in Kursk, “we have not yet seen these troops deploy in combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Washington with Austin and their Their South Korean counterparts.

Russia has been training North Korean soldiers in artillery, drones and “basic infantry operations, including trench clearance, indicating that they have every intention of using these forces in frontline operations,” Blinken said.

North Korea’s efforts to strengthen its relationship with Russia has raised concerns around the world about how that could expand the war in Ukraine and what Russian military aid will be delivered in return.

It has become a key issue as the leaders of the United States and South Korea met this week in Washington, fueling concerns that the presence of those soldiers will further destabilize the Asia-Pacific region and expand Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul condemned the deployment “in the strongest possible terms” and called for an immediate withdrawal of troops. North Korea’s belligerent actions not only put the European continent but also the Korean Peninsula under threat, and Seoul is committed to “taking necessary measures accordingly,” he said.

Blinken and Austin said the United States is talking to South Korea and its allies in Europe about next steps and noted that additional military aid for Ukraine would be announced soon. The United States has provided more than $59 billion in military assistance to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

Austin reiterated that Moscow has provided North Korean troops with Russian uniforms and equipment, another indication that they are likely to be used on the front.

“Make no mistake, if these North Korean troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they would become legitimate military targets,” Austin said.

However, he said the injection of North Korean troops was unlikely to cause Ukraine to lose ground in Kursk: “These 10,000 will not come close to replacing the numbers the Russians have lost” in the fighting to date.

The United States estimates that more than 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the more than two-year conflict.

The leaders of the United States and South Korea called on China to engage, saying Beijing should be deeply concerned about the moves and the potential for them to further destabilize the region.

There are questions about what new military technologies North Korea could get from Russia in exchange for the deployment and whether that could lead other nations to send their own forces to fight the war.

North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday for the first time in nearly a year, demonstrating a potential breakthrough in its ability to launch long-range nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland. Some experts speculated that Russia may have provided technological assistance to North Korea during the launch.

As the US-South Korea ministerial meeting was underway in Washington, the US, South Korea and Japan issued a joint statement condemning the missile launch as a “flagrant violation” of numerous UN Security Council resolutions and criticizing the deepening military cooperation between North and South Korea. Russia, particularly the deployment of North Korean troops.

“We strongly urge (North Korea) to immediately cease its series of provocative and destabilizing actions that threaten peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond,” they said.

In a dramatic moment during a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood first noted the number of North Korean troops near Ukraine.

“And I have a very respectful question for my Russian colleague: Does Russia still maintain that there are no DPRK troops in Russia? “That’s my only question and my final point,” he said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, shook her head from side to side indicating that she did not want to respond to the comment at a meeting called by Moscow to discuss the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine.

In addition to troops, North Korea has also provided ammunition to Russia, and earlier this month the White House released images it said were of shipments from North Korea. 1,000 containers of military equipment there by rail.

Lederer reported from the United Nations.

Originally Posted: October 31, 2024 at 12:35 pm CDT