South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun (R) met with Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgy Zinoviev (L) at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday, following South Korea's summoning of the Russian ambassador to express strong disapproval of Pyongyang's decision to dispatch thousands of soldiers to support Moscow's war in Ukraine. The South Korean government demanded an immediate withdrawal of these troops.

According to the foreign ministry, approximately 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are currently in Russia undergoing acclimatization and are expected to soon be deployed to the front lines. This marks the first time North Korea has deployed troops overseas. South Korea has long suspected that the nuclear-armed North is supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, and the recent troop deployment has heightened Seoul's concerns, especially after Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a military agreement in June.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun conveyed South Korea's 'grave concerns regarding North Korea's recent dispatch of troops to Russia and strongly urged the immediate withdrawal of North Korean forces' to Ambassador Zinoviev. The South Korean spy agency has provided satellite images confirming the arrival of the first batch of 1,500 North Korean special forces in Vladivostok on Russian military vessels. Such military cooperation between the two countries violates multiple Security Council resolutions, according to Kim.

In response, the Russian embassy stated that 'cooperation between Russia and North Korea... is not directed against the interests of South Korea's security'. Additionally, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke with NATO chief Mark Rutte, urging the alliance to take 'concrete countermeasures' against the growing Russia-North Korea cooperation. British Foreign Minister David Lammy, who was in Seoul, described Russia's actions as 'reckless and illegal' and pledged to work with Seoul in response.

Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean Peninsula Strategy at Sejong Institute, commented that 'South Korea's protest to Russia will not change anything regarding Moscow's military cooperation with the North'. He also noted that in exchange for sending soldiers to aid Russia in Ukraine, Kim Jong Un aims to acquire advanced military technologies, including surveillance satellites and submarines. The North Korean soldiers are expected to be deployed to Ukraine's front lines soon, though their impact on the conflict remains uncertain.

The South Korean spy agency reported that between October 8 and 13, North Korea transported its special forces to Russia via a Russian Navy transport ship, marking the beginning of North Korea's military involvement in Moscow's war in Ukraine. These forces, now stationed in Russian bases in the Far East, are anticipated to be deployed to the front lines of the Ukraine conflict once they complete their acclimatization training.

Furthermore, the NIS revealed that since last August, North Korea has provided Russia with over 13,000 containers' worth of artillery shells, missiles, anti-tank rockets, and other lethal weapons. Pyongyang and Moscow have maintained a close alliance since North Korea's founding after World War II, and their relationship has grown stronger since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted intelligence reports indicating that North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia, suggesting that Moscow is relying on North Korea to compensate for its substantial losses.

Despite being one of the world's top 10 weapons exporters, South Korea has resisted calls from its allies, including Washington, to supply weapons to Kyiv, citing long-standing domestic policy that prohibits Seoul from selling weapons into active conflict zones. However, South Korea has sold billions of dollars' worth of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft, and rocket launchers to Ukraine's key ally Poland, and Polish President Andrzej Duda is scheduled to visit Seoul this week.

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