NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Pyongyang and Moscow on Monday against sending North Korean soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war.
North Korea deploying soldiers to fight with Russia in North Korea “would mark a significant escalation,” Rutte said on X after talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The two spoke by phone about the close relationship between South Korea and the Western military alliance, Rutte said, noting their cooperation in the defence industry and their “interconnected security.”
South Korean President Yoon has described North Korea’s cooperation with Russia as a serious security threat “not only for our country but also for the international community.”
On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) accused the North Korean army of having already sent around 1,500 soldiers to Russia for training ahead of their expected deployment in Ukraine.
In total, the agency said North Korea has decided to send around 12,000 soldiers to provide support for Russia, including special units.
Russian ambassador summoned in Seoul
The South Korean Foreign Ministry earlier summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul over the apparent deployment of North Korean soldiers, the Yonhap news agency reported.
During the meeting, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun said he expressed his disappointment to Georgy Zinoviev.
The ambassador made no comment to journalists present after the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, Yonhap said.
On Friday, South Korea’s NIS said the North Korean soldiers were transported in Russian ships to Vladivostok where they are allegedly being prepared for deployment in the war.
The NIS also alleged that the soldiers are to receive Russian uniforms and false identities to disguise their true origin.
The intelligence service based its information on satellite images and facial recognition software which were used in cooperation with Ukrainian intelligence.
A spokeswoman for the German Foreign Office told reporters in Berlin that increasingly close cooperation between Russia and North Korea had been observed for some time.
She urged Pyongyang to refrain from any form of support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
“It is also somewhat desperate when North Korean capabilities now have to be invoked,” she added. “That this would be a form of escalation is of course absolutely clear.”
