North Korea sends foreign minister to Russia as its troops train to fight in Ukraine

North Korea said Tuesday its apical diplomat is visiting Russia successful different motion of their deepening relations arsenic rival South Korea and Western nations expressed siren astatine nan North’s alleged deployment of thousands of troops to support Russia’s warfighting ...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said Tuesday its apical diplomat is visiting Russia, successful different motion of their deepening relations arsenic rival South Korea and Western nations opportunity nan North has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s warfare successful Ukraine.

North Korea’s charismatic Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui departed for Russia connected Monday, but didn’t specify nan intent of nan visit.

The announcement of Choe’s sojourn came hours aft nan Pentagon said North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia, who are expected to get successful battlefields successful Ukraine wrong “the adjacent respective weeks.”

South Korean and Western leaders person expressed interest that North Korean engagement could thief prolong Russia’s aggression successful Ukraine, and that Russia whitethorn connection exertion successful return that could beforehand nan threat posed by North Korea’s atomic weapons and rocket program.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday that immoderate of nan North Korean soldiers person already moved person to Ukraine and were believed to beryllium heading for nan Kursk separator region, wherever Russia has been struggling to push backmost a Ukrainian incursion.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol successful telephone calls pinch European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte connected Monday shared South Korean intelligence assessments that North Korean troops could beryllium deployed to battlefronts “more quickly than anticipated.” He called for person coordination pinch European governments aimed astatine “monitoring and blocking “illegal exchanges betwixt Pyongyang and Moscow, Yoon’s agency said successful a statement.

After initially denying nan claims astir North Korean unit deployments, Pyongyang and Moscow person adopted a vaguer stance, asserting that their subject practice conforms pinch world rule without straight admitting nan beingness of North Korean forces successful Russia.

North Korea has besides been accused of providing millions of artillery shells and different subject instrumentality to Russia to substance its warfare successful Ukraine. The United States and its partners person described Russia's procurement of North Korean unit and supplies arsenic a usurpation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and raised suspicions that Moscow is helping Pyongyang to evade sanctions and unlawfully finance its weapons program.

“The forbidden subject collusion betwixt Russia and North Korea poses a important information threat to nan world organization and a superior matter that could perchance harm our security. We must thoroughly analyse each possibilities and hole countermeasures,” Yoon said successful a Cabinet gathering successful Seoul connected Tuesday.

Yoon past week raised nan anticipation of supplying Ukraine pinch weapons while saying Seoul is preparing countermeasures that could beryllium rolled retired successful stages depending connected nan grade of subject practice betwixt Pyongyang and Moscow.

South Korea, a increasing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian assistance and different non-lethal support to Ukraine and joined U.S.-led economical sanctions against Moscow. It has truthful acold resisted calls by Kyiv and NATO to straight proviso Ukraine pinch weapons, citing a longstanding argumentation of not providing arms to countries engaged successful progressive conflict.