By Hyunsu Yim and Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea is considering sending a team of military monitors to Ukraine to observe and analyse the expected deployment of North Korean troops by Russia on the frontlines of the conflict there, a presidential official said on Wednesday.
At least 11,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and more than 3,000 of them have been moved close to frontlines, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Pyongyang would learn valuable lessons from its troops engaging in combat and witnessing modern warfare by helping Russia, and that constituted a direct military threat to South Korea, the official said, adding:
“So it is incumbent upon us to analyse and monitor the activities of North Korean troops against our ally, Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s allies have widely condemned the deployment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top security aide Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea last week and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is visiting Moscow this week to discuss how to respond to the criticism, the South Korean official said.
On Tuesday, Washington said some North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August and hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory.
Russia is putting pressure on Ukrainian forces along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line inside Ukraine after failing to topple the government with its all-out invasion of 2022. Total military casualties are estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
DEPLOYMENT HAS BEEN FASTER THAN EXPECTED, SOUTH KOREA SAYS
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the pace of North Korean troop deployment to Russia had been faster than expected, creating a dangerous situation, his office reported, relaying remarks during a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau said the deployment of North Korean troops in the will likely escalate the conflict and create a greater impact on the security environment of Europe and the Indo-Pacific, according to Yoon’s office.
South Korean officials have also expressed worry about what Russia may be providing to Pyongyang in return.
The North is likely to be compensated by Moscow with military and civilian technology, as it races to launch a spy satellite and upgrade its ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, the South Korean presidential official said.
Putin has not denied the involvement of North Korean troops in the war but said it was Russia’s business how it implements a partnership treaty he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed in June.
North Korea has not acknowledged the deployment but said if such a move that “world media” were talking about was true, it would be done in compliance with international law.
North Korean soldiers were being incorporated into Russian military units and given Russian uniforms to try to hide their identities, the presidential official said, adding issues such as language barriers may be slowing their entry into battle.
Earlier, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Agency said the North Korean troops could suffer heavy casualties if sent into combat because of a complete lack of experience in drone warfare that has characterized the war in Ukraine.
North Korea has shipped artillery rounds, ballistic missiles and anti-tank rockets to Russia in more than 13,000 containers since August last year, the South’s intelligence agency has said.
The Pentagon estimated 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed to eastern Russia for training, up from an estimate of 3,000 troops last Wednesday.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Josh Smith, Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies, Himani Sarkar, Philippa Fletcher)
