National security spokesman John Kirby confirmed the assessment Monday after Ukraine’s government said North Korean troops had moved from support roles into direct fighting on behalf of Russia. Kirby said North Korean troops are taking casualties in the fighting and promised a strong US and allied sanctions response to North Korea.
Dead Russian soldiers purportedly near the Kursk Bulge.Credit: Radio Svoboda/Telegram
Major General Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that some North Korean troops have died in combat in Kursk but did not have a specific number of those killed or wounded. Those troops have primarily been used in an infantry role and started fighting in combat operations about a week ago, Ryder said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions to the Russian Defence Ministry, which didn’t immediately comment.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged unwavering support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour under a mutual defence pact.
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The alliance gave a jolt to international relations, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the planned deployment of US intermediate-range missiles to Europe and Asia has brought new threats.
“In view of rising geopolitical tensions, we must take additional measures to ensure the security of Russia and our allies,” Putin told a meeting with top military brass. “We are doing it accurately and in a balanced way to avoid being drawn into a full-scale arms race.”
However, military analysts say the language barrier has bedevilled combat coordination between Russian and North Korean troops.
“The poor integration and ongoing communication problems between Russian and North Korean forces will likely continue to cause friction in Russian military operations in Kursk … in the near term,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said on Sunday.
On November 5, Ukrainian officials said their forces had for the first time engaged with North Korean units that had been recently deployed to help Russia.
Ukraine seized land in Russia’s Kursk border region last August in what was the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II. The operation embarrassed the Kremlin which had aimed to counter unceasingly glum news from the front line.
The incursion hasn’t significantly changed the war’s dynamics. Over the past year, Russia has been on the front foot, with the exception of Kursk, and has been grinding deeper into eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region despite heavy losses.
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said on Monday the military has been making steady gains in Ukraine, claiming that they have accelerated recently, with Russian forces capturing about 30 square kilometres of territory a day.
