North Korea becoming more dangerous by sending troops to Russia: U.S. official

North Korea becoming more dangerous by sending troops to Russia: U.S. official
by Thomas Maresca
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 9, 2024

North Korea is gaining crucial military experience and equipment by sending troops to Russia, a U.S. official warned the United Nations, making the regime a growing threat to neighboring countries.

More than 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea told a U.N. Security Council briefing Wednesday.

Pyongyang has also sent more than 20,000 shipping containers of munitions to Russia since December 2023, Shea said, containing at least six million heavy artillery rounds and over 100 ballistic missiles.

"The DPRK is significantly benefitting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors," Shea said.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

The diplomat said North Korea would also "likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally."

Moscow and Pyongyang have grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The two signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June, which includes a mutual defense clause that calls for mutual military assistance in the event either country is attacked.

In exchange for North Korea's assistance, Russia has supplied it with air defense systems, Shea said.

"We are particularly concerned about Moscow's intent to share with Pyongyang satellite and space technologies, which are crucial to an army's communication and intelligence gathering capabilities on the modern battlefield, as we have seen in Ukraine," Shea added.

The Security Council was meeting to discuss North Korea's test of a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile on Monday. It was Pyongyang's first missile launch since Nov. 5 and came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a visit to Seoul.

South Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations Hwang Joon-kook said the missile launch was the result of "blood money" from Russia.

"The January 6 missile launch shows exactly where this blood money ends up," Hwang said. "The DPRK sacrifices its own people to fuel its nuclear ambitions and further contributes to death and destruction in Ukraine."

Hwang described the North Korean troops sent to Russia as "slaves" to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The soldiers are "brainwashed to sacrifice their lives on faraway battlefields to raise money for his regime and secure advanced military technology from Russia," he said.