NATO comments on reports of “large force” from North Korea to Russia

EditorOctober 19, 2024Last Updated: October 19, 2024

1 minute read

This picture taken on June 19, 2024 and released on June 20, 2024 from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (front R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (front L) speaking after watching the welcome performance at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP) / South Korea OUT / ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. /

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, responding to a question about South Korean intelligence information about North Korea sending troops to Russia, said on Friday that the alliance could not confirm it “at this stage”.

“At this stage, our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that the North Koreans are participating as soldiers in the (Russian) war effort,”he said during a press conference at the alliance headquarters.

“But of course it could change,”he added.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency quoted, on Friday, the country’s intelligence service that North Korea decided to send a “large force” of 12 thousand soldiers to Russia to support it in its war against Ukraine.

“The Intelligence Service said that it learned that the North recently decided to send four divisions of 12 thousand soldiers, including special forces, to participate in the war in Ukraine,”the agency said.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the possession of intelligence reports that North Korea is training 10 thousand soldiers to support Russia in its war against Kiev.