Ukraine says North Korean troops have arrived in Russian ‘combat zone’

Ukraine said Thursday that North Korean troops have arrived in the “combat zone” in Russia’s Kursk border region, where Moscow has struggled for months to push back Ukrainian troops.

It is already widely believed that North Korea – with whom Russia has signed a mutual defense treaty – is arming Moscow for its invasion, but troops on the ground would mark a new escalation of the conflict.

“The first units of the North Korean army … have already arrived in the combat zone of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Ukraine’s military intelligence service HUR said, adding that they were “registered” in the Kursk region on Wednesday.

Ukraine said the number of North Koreans deployed in Russia amounted to about “12,000” troops, without specifying how many of them were in the Kursk region.

According to the United States and South Korea, thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia for training.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin – who signed a mutual defense pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June – did not deny the reports.

“Russia has never doubted that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is serious about Russian cooperation; we are working together with our North Korean friends,” Putin said after hosting a summit of emerging economies.

“What we will do is our business,” he said.

The strongman leader then appeared to mock satellite images allegedly showing North Korean troops on Russian soil.

“Images are serious business. If there are images, they have to show something.”

Putin spoke hours after lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament voted unanimously to ratify a treaty with North Korea that provides for “mutual assistance” if either side faces aggression.

The treaty must be fully ratified by the House of Lords on November 6.

‘Provocation’

Russia claims it has taken back a series of villages from Ukrainian forces in Kursk, but has failed to expel Ukrainians from its territory.

Putin claimed on Thursday that Moscow’s forces were “advancing” there and that they had blocked Ukrainian “units invading the Kursk region.”

Russia, under heavy international sanctions, has dramatically warmed ties with isolated Pyongyang since sending troops to Ukraine.

South Korea said on Thursday that the presence of North Korean troops in Europe would represent a major escalation in world security.

President Yoon Suk Yeol called the deployment a “provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe,” after talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

South Korea, one of the world’s top 10 arms exporters, has long resisted calls from its allies, including Washington, to supply Kiev with weapons.

But it has hinted it may revise this policy in light of North Korea’s actions, and Yoon said Thursday that Seoul would “take necessary actions in cooperation with the international community” to respond.

South Korea is considering sending weapons

A South Korean official from the president’s office told reporters earlier this week that Seoul would “support Ukraine with defensive weapons, and if things get out of line, we may consider sending offensive weapons.”

Seoul has already sold billions of dollars worth of tanks, howitzers, attack planes and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of Kiev.

In June, South Korea agreed to transfer the knowledge needed to build K2 tanks to Poland, which experts say could be an important step toward production in Ukraine.

Yoon announced that South Korea and Poland would sign an agreement on a second contract for South Korean K2 tanks by the end of the year.

Duda was on a four-day visit to South Korea that ends Friday, with stops at Hyundai Rotem, makers of the K2 tanks, and Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea’s largest defense contractor.

Hanwha Aerospace has signed a $1.64 billion deal with Poland for the supply of rocket artillery units.

Before Yoon and Duda’s meeting, a North Korean balloon carrying trash landed on Seoul’s presidential compound.

Korean media reported that it contained propaganda leaflets ridiculing the South Korean president and his wife.