Pyongyang defends the deployment of its soldiers in Russia – DW – 10/25/2024

North Korea confirmed on Friday (10/25/2024) that sending its forces to Russia “would be consistent with international law” if that happened, in a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry that represents the regime’s first statement on North Korea’s supposed deployment. Directed to the Ukrainian Front.

“If something like what the international media are talking about happens, I believe it will be an action consistent with the standards of international law,” Kim Jong-gyu, the deputy foreign minister in charge of Russia, said in a statement distributed by the agency. State agency KCNA.

Kim added in response to a question posed by a journalist from this official North Korean agency about the deployment of this country’s army in Russia, according to the Korean Central News Agency: “I think there will definitely be forces that want to present it as illegal.”

“Our Foreign Ministry is not directly concerned with what the Ministry of Defense is doing and does not feel the need to confirm this separately,” the deputy minister said.

Putin's ambiguity

The regime's first official statement on sending troops, in which North Korea neither confirmed nor denied the action, comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin also expressed ambiguity on the subject, referring to how Moscow and Pyongyang are implementing their policies. The Mutual Defense Assistance Treaty “is their business.”

South Korea and the United States said about 3,000 North Korean soldiers are currently at bases in the Russian Far East. South Korea's National Intelligence Service estimated this week that about 10,000 troops could be deployed in Ukraine to support the Russian army in combat by December.

North Korea – which has supplied the Russian army with large shipments of weapons since last year – and Moscow denied claims by Kiev or Seoul about the possible participation of North Korean units in the fighting in Ukraine.

The National Intelligence Service, like many experts, believes that sending troops is based on the strategic partnership agreement that Pyongyang and Moscow signed last June, which calls for mutual assistance in the event that one of the two countries is attacked, which is a scenario that may happen. It was opened after Ukrainian incursions into Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions.

Ct (Efe, AFP)