Kim Jong Un confirms deployment of troops to Russia – Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed the deployment of troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine, stating that this complies with the provisions of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between North Korea and Russia.
Source: South Korean news agency Yonhap, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
Details: North Korea announced that troops had been sent to Russia "by order" of Kim Jong Un in accordance with the mutual defence treaty between Pyongyang and Moscow.
"After it was established that the situation met the conditions for invoking the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty with Russia, Comrade Kim Jong Un made the decision for our armed forces to participate in the war and informed the Russian side," the KCNA statement noted.
North Korea also confirmed in its statement the participation of its troops in fighting in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Background:
- A report by the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses stated that North Korea's participation in Russia's war against Ukraine had brought over US$20 billion dollars to its economy.
- According to an investigation by Reuters in cooperation with the Open Source Centre (OSC), a UK-based non-profit producing open-source research on global security threats, over the past 20 months North Korea has supplied Russia with at least four million artillery shells, which are being extensively used in the war against Ukraine. The deliveries have been taking place on a large and systematic scale via sea and rail routes, significantly boosting Russian military capabilities.
- Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe that "North Korea is using the war in Ukraine as a testing ground for its own military capabilities".
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