North Korea has shipped 1,500 soldiers to Russia for training, South Korea’s spy agency has said.
The agency has described the move as the first step in the state’s military involvement in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The nation transported its special forces fighters on seven Russian ships earlier in October, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a press release on Friday.
“From intelligence that I have … they are preparing 10,000 soldiers, different soldiers, land forces, technical personnel,” Ukrainian President Zelensky told reporters at a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday.
He added, “We know about 10,000 soldiers of North Korea … are preparing to (start) fighting against us. This is really an urgent thing, I spoke about it with the United States, I spoke about it with all the leaders.”
In a letter to US President Joe Biden on Friday, US House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner said the reported troop movements were “alarming” and “an extreme escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.”
