South Korean intelligence: North Korea to send more troops to Russia

People familiar with the intelligence said that NATO could in response intensify support for Ukraine and build up partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Oct 26, 2024 - 00:00

South Korean intelligence: North Korea to send more troops to Russia

North Korean soldiers, illustrative image. Photo via Wikimedia.

A second batch of North Korean troops will head to Russia soon, according to South Korean intelligence documents shared with allies and seen by Bloomberg.

The deployment of North Korean forces to Russia and the massive flow of weapons from Pyongyang to Moscow represents a dramatic escalation in military cooperation between the two nations. With North Korean shells now reportedly making up the majority of Russia’s artillery fire in Ukraine and thousands of elite troops preparing for combat, this partnership challenges Western sanctions, threatens to reshape the battlefield dynamics in Ukraine, and signals a potentially dangerous new phase in the war.

On the basis of these documents, Bloomberg writes that a first group of 1,500 elite special forces troops is already undergoing training in Russia’s far east as part of a planned deployment of about 10,000 North Korean soldiers.

They were transported to the port of Vladivostok between 8 and 13 October after the first visit by Russian naval vessels to North Korean waters since 1990, the assessment showed.

The documents also laid out details of the scale of arms supplies from North Korea to support Russia’s military operations in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Pyongyang has sent approximately 8 million rounds of North Korean-made 122mm and 152mm shells since August last year, the analysis showed. About 100 Hwasong-11 missiles as well as Bulsae-4 anti-tank weapons have also been detected on the battlefield in Ukraine for the first time.

That’s considerably more than some European estimates of the volume of North Korean arms supplied to Russia, according to a government official with knowledge of the subject, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.

The South Korean assessment cites Ukrainian intelligence officials as reporting that only 30% of shells fired by the Kremlin’s forces recently were Russian-made. Of the remainder, 60% came from North Korea and 10% were Iranian-made, the documents said.

NATO’s response

South Korea will present some of the intelligence to NATO officials at a North Atlantic Council meeting on Monday 28 October, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

NATO’s potential responses are limited but could include intensifying support for Ukraine and building up partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, the people said.

It’s assumed the North Korean troops will be dispatched to the frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine once their approximately month-long training at military facilities in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk is completed, according to the South Korean documents.

The Kremlin plans to equip the North Koreans with weapons and combat uniforms as well as fake identities to make them appear to be residents of eastern regions of Russia, it said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean troops are already in Russia as he flagged the “very, very serious” possibility that they will be sent to fight in Ukraine. The White House said around 3,000 soldiers were being trained in Russia now.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered an evasive response to questions about North Korean troops in Russia during a press conference at the BRICS summit in Kazan, marking his first public comments on the matter.

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