The US and South Korean defense chiefs called Wednesday for North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia, where Washington says some 10,000 of them have been deployed for possible action against Ukrainian forces.
Russia and North Korea have deepened their political and military alliance as the Ukraine war has dragged on, but sending Pyongyang’s troops into combat against Kyiv’s forces would mark a significant escalation that has sparked widespread international concern.
“I call upon them to withdraw their troops out of Russia,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon, a call echoed by his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun, who stood beside him.
Austin said the United States will “continue to work with allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat.”
But there is a “good likelihood” that Moscow will still do so, according to the US defense secretary, who said that North Korean forces are being outfitted with Russian uniforms and weapons.
Kim, speaking through a translator, said he believes the North Korean deployment “can result in the escalation of the security threats on the Korean peninsula.”
That is because there is a “high chance” that Pyongyang will ask for technology transfers from Russia to aid its weapons programs — including on tactical nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles and reconnaissance satellites — in exchange for the deployment of its forces, he said.
But he did not announce a change to Seoul’s longstanding policy that bars it from selling weapons into active conflict zones including Ukraine — a stance it has stuck to despite calls from Washington and Kyiv to reconsider.
– ‘Co-belligerents’ –
“At the current moment, nothing is determined,” Kim said when asked if there are plans for South Korea to indirectly supply munitions to Ukraine.
The Pentagon said the previous day that a “small number” of North Korean troops have already been deployed in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have been conducting a ground offensive since August.
The White House has said that Pyongyang’s forces would become “legitimate military targets” if they fight against Ukraine, and Austin echoed that stance on Wednesday.
If North Korean troops “are fighting alongside Russian soldiers in this conflict and attacking Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian soldiers have the right to defend themselves,” Austin said.
They would be “co-belligerents, and you have every reason to believe that… they will be killed and wounded as a result of battle,” he added.
Pyongyang has denied sending troops to Russia, but its vice foreign minister said that were such a deployment to happen, it would be in line with global norms.
North Korea and Russia are both under United Nations sanctions — Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons program, and Moscow for the Ukraine war.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui was in Moscow Wednesday to hold “strategic” talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, while Wang Yi — the top diplomat for China, Pyongyang’s chief diplomatic ally — discussed the Ukraine crisis with Russia’s deputy foreign minister in Beijing.
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