Seoul Urges The Immediate Withdrawal of North Korean Troops From Russia

The South Korean government urgently summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded the immediate pullout of North Korean soldiers who allegedly prepare for battle in Ukraine.

Seoul’s intelligence agency reports that around 1,500 North Korean soldiers, including special forces, have already entered Russia.

In a meeting with Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev, South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun condemned the action, warning that Seoul would seek every option available to it.

The latter promised to pass on the concerns, adding the joint effort by Moscow and Pyongyang falls within the boundaries of international law.

Still, he would not say what the ambassador meant by specific cooperation or confirm reports North Korea has sent troops to support the Russian military.

On Monday, the cooperation between the 2 countries “is not directed against anyone else.” By The Kremlin spokesman as well as Dmitry Peskov had just said to reporters in Moscow.

“This is nothing to be worried about,” he was just quoted as saying by the official news agency of Russia, “TASS”.

From until now, Pyongyang has yet to comment on the issue still.

South Korea has accused North Korea of selling weapons to Russia for use in the war with Ukraine; it now says events have gone beyond just the export of military material.

Some reports in the South Korean media have gone as far as to suggest up to 12,000 North Korean troops could be deployed.

Kim said on Monday that the risk is not just to South Korea but also to the international community.

Moscow and Pyongyang have grown more severe since the signing of a security pact between leaders of the two countries in June. It’s believed to tie both countries to defend each other in case of an “attack” on one of them.

Putin submitted a bill to sign the agreement last week.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was quoted as saying, “If North Korea dispatches troops to Ukraine to fight with Russia, then the war in Ukraine has reached a major escalation.” The President of South Korea, Yoon Sukyeol, asked in a Monday phone call with Rutte for the alliance to look into “specific measures”. Yoon added that South Korea would further improve security cooperation with Ukraine and NATO.

On a visit to Seoul, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Russia’s move as “reckless and illegal”. He said London would work with Seoul on a response, Yoon’s office said.

The US and Japan also expressed their concern over the deepening military relationship between North Korea and Russia.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said that in response to the BBC on the question of reported cooperation between North Korea and Russia, China hoped all parties concerned would ease tension and pursue a political solution to the situation in Ukraine.

Some defense specialists told BBC Korea that North Korea’s involvement could make the war even more complicated.

Moon Seong-mook of the Korea Institute for National Strategy told BBC News: “The most dangerous scenario is that its participation in the conflict could lead to greater international involvement-most likely bringing in more countries.”.

The international community will most probably expand its sanctions and strangle any more grip on Russia and North Korea, as Dr. Moon explained, “though I don’t think this involvement will contribute for either of these nations in the long run.”

Others even believe that the Russian military will struggle to accommodate North Korean troops into the front lines of fighting.

Besides the language problem, they underlined that North Korean military have no experience in modern combat either.”

“We could assume that North Korean soldiers are destined for work in patrol groups around parts of the Russia-Ukraine border so that Russian military units can be transferred to other battlefields,” Valeriy Riabykh, head of the Ukrainian publication Defense Express said 

He expressed skepticism that units would be immediately sent into combat on the front line.

Additional reporting by Sangmi Han, Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee in SEOUL.