Putin Thanks North Korea for Troops    04/28 06:08

   

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North 
Korea Monday for fighting alongside his troops against Ukrainian forces and 
promised not to forget their sacrifices, hours after North Korea confirmed its 
deployment for the first time.

   The back-to-back Russian and North Korean statements -- which illustrate 
their expanding military partnerships -- came two days after Russia said its 
troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a 
surprise incursion last year.

   Ukrainian officials have denied the claim, insisting that the operation in 
certain areas of Kursk is continuing.

   In a statement posted on the website of the Kremlin, Putin praised North 
Korean soldiers who he said "shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, 
defended our Motherland as their own."

   "The Russian people will never forget the heroism of the DPRK special 
forces. We will always honor the heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for 
our common freedom, fighting side by side with their Russian brothers in arms," 
Putin said, using the acronym for the North's official name.

   North Korea's first official confirmation of its troops involvement

   Earlier Monday, North Korea's Central Military Commission announced that 
leader Kim Jong Un had decided to send troops to Russia to "annihilate and wipe 
out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation 
with the Russian armed forces." The commission said North Korean troops 
eventually made "an important contribution" to Russia retrieving the border 
territory.

   It was North Korea's first official confirmation of its troops' deployment 
to Russia though it has repeatedly expressed its unwavering support of Russia's 
fighting against Ukraine. U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials 
have said North Korea dispatched 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia last fall in 
its first participation in a major armed conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War.

   Both Putin and Kim said the North Korean deployment was made under a mutual 
defense treaty that they had signed in June 2024. The treaty -- considered the 
two countries' biggest defense agreement since the end of the Cold War -- 
requires both nations to use all available means to provide immediate military 
assistance if either is attacked.

   North Korea and Russia, locked in separate disputes with the U.S. and its 
allies, have moved significantly closer to each other in recent years.

   Beside its dispatch of troops, North Korea has been supplying a vast amount 
of conventional weapons to Russia. South Korea and the U.S. worry that Russia 
could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that 
can enhance its nuclear weapons program as well as other military and economic 
assistance.

   Pyongyang wants military technologies from Russia

   Kim's underscoring of North Korea's role in the retaking of the Kursk region 
implies his urgent wish to get what he wants from Russia, namely its sensitive 
military technologies and a solid security commitment to North Korea, said Moon 
Seong Mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for 
National Strategy.

   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia can provide 
unspecified military assistance to North Korea if necessary, in accordance with 
the defense treaty, according to Russian state media agencies.

   While Russia's claimed recapture of the Kursk region could deprive North 
Korea of legitimate grounds to maintain its troops in Russia, Moon said that 
North Korea won't likely pull out its troops from Russia anytime soon as the 
war is still going on. Moon said that North Korea could provide support to 
Russian forces in other regions in a different and covert manner.

   Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea's Korea Institute for Military 
Affairs, said North Korea also likely acknowledged its troops' dispatch because 
it couldn't hide it any longer and so determined to use it as a propaganda tool 
to boost internal unity. He said the North Korean announcement could also 
signal a prelude to Kim visiting Russia to attend ceremonies marking the May 9 
Victory Day.

   Neither North Korea nor Russia said how many North Korean soldiers 
eventually came to Russia or how many casualties they suffered. But in March, 
South Korea's military assessed that around 4,000 North Korean soldiers had 
been killed or wounded in the Russia-Ukraine war fronts. the South Korean 
military also said at the time that North Korea sent about 3,000 additional 
troops to Russia earlier this year.

   Kim Jong Un said that a monument will soon be erected in Pyongyang to mark 
North Korea's battle feats and that flowers will be laid before the tombstones 
of the fallen soldiers. Kim said the government must take steps to 
preferentially treat and take care of the families of the soldiers who took 
part in the war.

   North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers 
say they've become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on 
Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and 
unfamiliarity with the terrain. Still, Ukrainian military and intelligence 
officials have assessed that the North Koreans gained crucial battlefield 
experience and have been key to Russia's strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by 
throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk.

   South Korea calls for North's immediate withdrawal from Russia

   South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday urged North Korea to withdraw 
its troops from Russia immediately, saying the North's support of Russia's 
illegal invasion of Ukraine poses a grave provocation to international 
security. Spokesperson Koo Byoungsam also called the North's troops' deployment 
"an act against humanity" that has sacrificed young North Korean soldiers for 
their government.

   In a Kremlin meeting Saturday, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff 
for Russia's armed forces, informed Putin of Russia's regaining of the Kursk 
region. Gerasimov was first to confirm that North Korean soldiers fought 
alongside Russia to repel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region and 
"demonstrated high professionalism, showed fortitude, courage and heroism in 
battle."

   If confirmed, Russia's victory in Kursk would deprive Ukraine of key 
leverage in U.S.-brokered efforts to negotiate an end to the more than 
3-year-old war by exchanging its gains for some Russia-occupied land in Ukraine.

   President Donald Trump said Saturday he doubts Putin wants to end the war, 
expressing new skepticism a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, 
Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were " very close to a deal."