Seoul, Oct 21 (EFE).- South Korea’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to the Asian country on Monday to protest the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine.
South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun conveyed the position of Yoon Suk-yeol’s government during a meeting with Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev, local news agency Yonhap reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Upon leaving the foreign ministry in Seoul, Zinoviev confirmed to reporters that he had met with Kim but refused to answer further questions.
On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that Pyongyang was planning to send some 12,000 troops to Ukraine, with 1,500 having already been deployed last week to military facilities in the Primorye, Khabarovsk and Amur regions in Russia’s Far East for training.
The NIS released satellite images showing the movement of Russian navy ships between North Korea’s northeastern coast and the Russian port city of Vladivostok, as well as concentrations of North Korean troops at military bases in the Far East.
Ukrainian authorities have also claimed that Moscow plans to send around 10,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region from Nov. 1 to counter Ukraine’s advances.
Moscow has dismissed the allegations while Pyongyang has not commented on the matter.
Analysts believe that this agreement between North Korea and Russia is in line with the bilateral strategic partnership treaty signed between both countries in June, which calls for mutual military assistance in the event that one of the two countries is attacked. EFE
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