The US for the first time confirmed what South Korea and Ukraine have been saying: that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia. "There is evidence of DPRK troops in Russia," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday in Rome (North Korea's formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea). "What exactly they're doing is left to be seen," Austin said per NBC News. "We're trying to gain better fidelity on it." He added, per the Washington Post, that "if they're co-belligerents, if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia's behalf, that is a very, very serious issue. It will have impacts, not only in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well."
Austin suggested the deployment could be "an indication that [Vladimir Putin] may be even in more trouble than most people realize" in terms of Russia's military strength. He did not speculate on what North Korea would gain from the deployment. Austin also didn't speak to troop numbers, but South Korea on Wednesday updated its figures, which as of last week had put the number of North Korean troops sent to Russia at 1,500.
The South now says 3,000 troops have been deployed, with a total of 10,000 to be sent by year-end. The New York Times reports Austin's comments "came as American intelligence officials said they were preparing to release a trove of intelligence, including satellite photographs, that show troop ships moving from North Korea to training areas in Vladivostok on Russia's east coast and other Russian territory further to the north." (More North Korea stories.)
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