WASHINGTON— U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean soldiers dressed in Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward the Kursk region, near Ukraine, in what he described as a dangerous and destabilizing action.
Austin held a news conference with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun as concerns grow over Pyongyang’s deployment of up to 11,000 troops toward Russia.
He mentioned that officials are discussing what to do about the deployment.
Austin said the United States remains concerned that Russia will use North Korean troops in combat, but “whether they will be used in the fight remains to be seen.”
Kim said he does not necessarily believe the deployment will trigger a war on the peninsula, but it could increase security threats between the two nations. There is a “high possibility” that Pyongyang will ask for more advanced technologies in exchange for its troop deployment, such as nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Seoul and its allies estimate that the number of North Korean troops now deployed in Russia has risen to 11,000, according to a senior South Korean official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. More than 3,000 of those troops are believed to have moved toward combat zones in western Russia, the official said, without specifying the locations.
Some advanced units of those North Korean troops have already reached Kursk, where Ukraine controls the territory after a surprise counter-incursion in August.
