South Korea plans to send monitoring team to Ukraine amid North Korean troop presence

Official stated Seoul has a "legitimate need" to analyze North Korean military activities in the war in Ukraine and "feels the need" to establish a monitoring team.

Nov 1, 2024 - 18:00
South Korea plans to send monitoring team to Ukraine amid North Korean troop presence

South Korean soldiers. Illustrative image: US Army photo by Staff Sgt. Ken Scar

The South Korean government reportedly plans to send an undisclosed number of personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops, as reports emerge of North Korean troops operating in Russia’s Kursk Oblast and Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, ISW reports.

Amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, North Korea has sent over 2 million artillery rounds to Moscow since 2023. South Korea reports 3,000 North Korean troops deployed in Russia for training, with 10,000 planned by December. Ukraine’s military says initial units have reached Russia’s Kursk combat zone.

A senior South Korean presidential office official stated on 30 October that monitoring North Korean troops deployed to Russia was the government’s “duty,” the South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh reported.

“The fact that North Korea could, through the war in Ukraine, amass real combat experience on the ground and learn techniques of modern warfare could come back as a direct military threat against us. Defensively speaking, we have a legitimate need to analyze their activities,” the presidential office official told reporters, according to Hankyoreh.

According to Yonhap, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun claimed on 31 October that such deployment could proceed without parliamentary approval, citing a ministry directive. However, Hankyoreh reports that legal experts have questioned the constitutionality of this approach, while opposition parties have threatened to impeach the defense minister if any deployment occurs without parliamentary consent.

The announcement follows earlier considerations of such deployment. Yonhap News Agency reported on 22 October that a South Korean government source indicated plans to send military personnel, likely from intelligence units, to question captured North Koreans and monitor their forces’ tactics and combat capabilities.

Regarding the North Korean presence in Ukraine, Andrii Kovalenko, Head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, reported on 31 October that 3,000 North Korean military personnel are currently stationed in Kursk Oblast, with additional engineering personnel present in occupied Donetsk Oblast.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on 29 October that he had discussed enhanced intelligence cooperation with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Related:

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this. 

We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society.

A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support.

Become a Patron!