Using North Korean troops a desperate move by Putin, says Defence Secretary
The presence of North Korean soldiers supporting Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine is a shocking new development in the war, Defence Secretary John Healey has insisted.
On Friday, South Korea's spy agency said it had confirmed that Pyongyang had sent 1,500 special operations forces to Russia earlier this month to support Moscow's war effort.
And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were being prepared to join the invading Russian forces.
Mr Healey, who was speaking in the House of Commons, said it was highly likely that the transfer of hundreds of combat troops from North Korea to Russia had already begun.
He told MPs: "North Korean soldiers supporting Russia's war of aggression on European soil... is as shocking as it is desperate.
"North Korea already sends significant munitions and arms to Russia in direct violation of multiple UN resolutions.
"This developing military co-operation between Russia and the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea – ie North Korea] has serious security implications for Europe and for the Indo-Pacific.
"It represents a wider, growing alliance of aggression which Nato and the G7 nations must confront."
Mr Healey's comments were echoed by his Conservative opposite number.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge agreed that any number of North Korean troops supporting Russia would be an escalation.
He told the Commons: "I have lost count of the many times Vladimir Putin has accused us and our allies of so-called escalatory action in our support for Ukraine.
"But today we are considering the very real threat of North Korean combat troops being sent to support Russia's illegal invasion.
"Let us be in no doubt any potential agreement between Putin and Kim Jong Un to have North Korean boots on the ground in Ukraine... would be a major escalatory ratchet by Putin himself."
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