Ukraine says North Korea is sending soldiers to help Russia in war: NPR

In this pool photo distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after a welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 19.

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KYIV, Ukraine – The Ukrainian government says its military intelligence has evidence that North Korea is not just sending weapons to support Russia in its war against Ukraine. Pyongyang may also send soldiers.

“This is no longer just about the transfer of weapons,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video address at the weekend. “It’s about actually transferring people from North Korea to the occupying forces.”

Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation in Ukraine's Defense and Security Council, told NPR he had been briefed on the matter and said Russia was training North Korean military personnel on Russian territory.

“The enemy’s plans are to use (the North Korean presence) to reinforce conscripts and border guards in Russia’s border regions,” he said. “But it is still too early to say whether they will be deployed directly on the territory of Ukraine.”

White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told Reuters that reports of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were concerning and “point to a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues its brutal war against Ukraine.” “continues to suffer significant battlefield casualties.” The South Korean Ministry of Defense says it is closely monitoring signs of this troop buildup.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, calls the Ukrainian claim an “information hoax.”

North Korea and Russia have signed a strategic agreement that serves as a military alliance. South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik told Bloomberg this summer that Pyongyang sent millions of artillery shells to Russia.

There is also evidence that North Korea is producing missiles on behalf of Russia and that these missiles are being used to attack Ukraine.

Investigators from Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based investigative organization that tracks the supply of arms and ammunition in armed conflicts, have discovered the remains of four North Korean-made Hwasong-11 ballistic missiles in Ukraine.

“This illustrates two things,” said Damien Spleeters, who is leading the Central African Republic’s investigation into Ukraine. “The first thing is that there was not just a one-off missile transfer at the end of 2023. We see that there has been at least one more transfer in 2024. So it is a permanent type of relationship. Secondly, there is a very narrow window between production, transfer and use.”

He said the missile component found was manufactured around March this year and deployed a few months later, in August.

Ukraine says North Korean military engineers have been sent to Russia or even the occupied territories to check how well these missiles launch. Spleeters doesn't rule that out.

“It would make sense for the people involved in the production of these missiles to be close to where they are deployed and assess their effectiveness in order to make improvements to these missiles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kovalenko of Ukraine's Defense and Security Council said the presence of North Korean troops in Russia “already represents a complete shift in the balance” in a war in which NATO says it has no ground troops stationed in Ukraine.

“Plus,” he added, “autocrats make weapons cheaper and faster.”

Zelensky told the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday that North Korea is also sending factory workers to Russia to replace those drafted to fight in Ukraine.

Speaking to lawmakers about his plan to end the war on Ukraine's terms, the president said he hoped Ukraine's allies would change their strategy to help the country win. One of the conditions in his plan is that Ukraine be invited to join NATO before the end of the war, something many Western allies, including the United States, are reluctant to do so as not to anger Russia.

NPR producer Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report from Kyiv