WASHINGTON: North Korea is sending 10,000 troops to train Russia and possibly fight Ukraine within weeks, Washington said, with Seoul warning on Tuesday (Oct 29) that the accelerated deployment poses a “significant security threat”.

Seoul has long accused the nuclear-armed North of sending weapons to help Moscow fight Kiev, and Pyongyang said after Kim Jong Un signed a joint defense pact with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June. He took action to deploy soldiers en masse.

North Korea has denied sending troops, but in initial comments reported in state media last week, the deputy foreign minister said that if such a deployment took place, it would be in line with international law.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that North Korea could “soon” have as many as 12,000 troops on Russian soil, while US President Joe Biden called the deployment “very dangerous.”

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that North Korea “has sent a total of 10,000 troops to train in eastern Russia, which will likely increase Russian forces near Ukraine over the next few weeks.”

Distribution “one Dangerous expansion of Russia’s warNATO chief Mark Rutte added that this was “a sign of Putin’s growing desperation”.

Rutte stated that more than 600 thousand Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the conflicts began in 2022, adding that the Kremlin cannot continue the occupation without external support.

Speaking in Brussels after a briefing with South Korean intelligence officials, Rutte said he could confirm the deployment of North Korean military units at the site in Russia’s western Kursk region.