According to Washington, 10,000 North Korean soldiers are in the Kursk region, the head of the press service of the US State Department, Matthew Miller, reported in a briefing. The broadcast was broadcast on the department’s YouTube channel.
“We now believe that 10,000 (DPRK military) have arrived in Kursk and may engage in hostilities in the coming days,” – said.
Miller added that he is aware of media reports about the North Korean military’s possible involvement in hostilities in the Kursk Region, but cannot yet confirm their authenticity.
“However, as we said, they are likely to engage in combat with Ukrainian forces. And if this happens, they will become legitimate military targets.” – said.
In June, the leaders of Russia and North Korea Vladimir Putin AND Kim Jong Un signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement. Art. 4 of this agreement states that “if one of the parties is in a state of war due to an armed attack by one or more states, the other party will immediately provide it with military assistance with all means at its disposal in accordance with art. . 51 of the Charter of the United Nations and the laws of the DPRK and the Russian Federation.” The State Duma ratified the treaty on October 24.
That same month, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence services began reporting first on the planned and then actual transfer of North Korean troops to Russia to participate in a special military operation. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang confirmed the data on the transfer of troops. Putin, commenting on South Korea’s intelligence data, said that “(satellite) images are a serious thing” and if they exist, “it means they reflect something.” He also recalled art. 4 of the Russia-DPRK treaty and noted that Moscow “never doubted that the North Korean leadership takes the agreements seriously.”
In early November, the North Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed the provision of military assistance to Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, without specifying to what extent the DPRK authorities are specifically helping the Russian army, RBC recalls.
