South Korean President convenes emergency security meeting as North Korea allegedly sends troops to Russia
- In Reports
- 04:28 PM, Oct 18, 2024
- Myind Staff
Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol held an urgent security meeting on Friday after reports emerged that North Korea plans to send troops to Russia to assist in its war with Ukraine, according to the presidential office.
Senior representatives from the National Security Council, the Ministry of National Defence, and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) held a discussion on the most recent information on North Korean forces' involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine. The meeting was followed by the NIS, which stated that it believes Pyongyang has just made the decision to send four brigades, totalling 12,000 soldiers, including special forces, to the conflict in Ukraine. This would be North Korea's first significant ground force deployment.
"The participants agreed that the current situation, in which the military ties between Russia and North Korea have developed from the transfer of military supplies to actual troop deployments, poses a significant security threat not only to South Korea but also to the international community," the president's office stated in a release. "They also decided not to stand by and will respond by mobilising all available means in cooperation with the international community," it further said.
According to the office, South Korea has been closely monitoring North Korea's military transfer to Russia since the start of cooperation with its partners. It will keep an eye on the situation and take any aggressive steps that are required. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that North Korean forces have already been stationed in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and that 10,000 more are ready to join the conflict, according to Ukrainian intelligence sources.
A Ukrainian missile attack on October 3 in the partially held eastern Donetsk area killed six North Koreans, according to Ukrainian media reports earlier this month. However, Russia denied that it had used North Korean forces in its conflict.
Comments