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NKorea Sends FM to Russia 10/29 06:09
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea said Tuesday its top diplomat is
visiting Russia, in another sign of their deepening relations as rival South
Korea and Western nations say the North has sent thousands of troops to support
Russia's war in Ukraine.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by
Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui departed for Russia on Monday, but didn't specify
the purpose of the visit. In a closed-door hearing at South Korea's parliament,
the South's spy agency said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions on
sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in
return, according to Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.
The announcement of Choe's visit came hours after the Pentagon said North
Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia, who are expected to arrive in
battlefields in Ukraine within "the next several weeks."
South Korean and Western leaders have expressed concern that North Korean
involvement could help prolong Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and that Russia
may offer technology in return that could advance the threat posed by North
Korea's nuclear weapons and missile program.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday that some of the
North Korean soldiers have already moved closer to Ukraine and were believed to
be heading for the Kursk border region, where Russia has been struggling to
push back a Ukrainian incursion.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers it's examining
the possibility that some groups of North Korea's military personnel in Russia,
including generals or other high-ranking officials, may have already moved to
frontline areas. The spy agency also said the two sides appear to be struggling
to resolve communication issues although the Russian military is training North
Korean troops on Russian military terminology, Lee said.
The agency said space-based reconnaissance is an area where North Korea is
likely receiving Russian help. It said North Korea may be acquiring advanced
components from Russia as it prepares to launch another military reconnaissance
satellite following a failed attempt in May, said Park Sun-won, another
lawmaker who attended the hearing.
North Korea first placed a spy satellite in orbit last November. Its leader
Kim Jong Un has described those assets as crucial for monitoring South Korean
and U.S. military activities and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable
missiles.
In a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said deepening military cooperation
between North Korea and Russia could pose a "major security threat" to Seoul if
the North gains access to Russian technology and its troops get combat
experience.
The leaders confirmed plans to exchange government delegations as part of
efforts to strengthen communication and coordinate their responses over the
conflict, Yoon's office said.
In earlier calls with European Union Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Yoon called for closer
coordination with European governments aimed at "monitoring and blocking
illegal exchanges" between Pyongyang and Moscow.
After initially denying the claims about North Korean troop deployments,
Pyongyang and Moscow have adopted a vaguer stance, asserting that their
military cooperation conforms with international law without directly admitting
the presence of North Korean forces in Russia.
North Korea has also been accused of providing millions of artillery shells
and other military equipment to Russia to fuel its war in Ukraine. The United
States and its partners have described Russia's procurement of North Korean
personnel and supplies as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and
raised suspicions that Moscow is helping Pyongyang to evade sanctions and
unlawfully finance its weapons program.
Russia, along with China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts at the Security
Council to tighten sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile testing
activities, which intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia also vetoed a U.N. resolution to extend the mandate of a panel of
monitors in March in a move that effectively abolished oversight by U.N.
experts of Security Council sanctions against North Korea. It prompted Western
accusations that Moscow was acting to shield its arms purchases from Pyongyang.
"The illegal military collusion between Russia and North Korea poses a
significant security threat to the international community and a serious matter
that could potentially harm our security. We must thoroughly examine all
possibilities and prepare countermeasures," Yoon said in a Cabinet meeting in
Seoul on Tuesday.
Yoon last week raised the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons
while saying Seoul is preparing countermeasures that could be rolled out in
stages depending on the degree of military cooperation between Pyongyang and
Moscow.
South Korea, a growing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian aid and
other non-lethal support to Ukraine and joined U.S.-led economic sanctions
against Moscow. It has so far resisted calls by Kyiv and NATO to directly
supply Ukraine with weapons, citing a longstanding policy of not providing arms
to countries engaged in active conflict.
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