Seoul: South Korea condemned, Monday, North Korea's first public admission of sending troops to Russia in support of its war against Ukraine, accusing Pyongyang of "mocking" the international community by justifying the deployment, Yonhap News Agency reported.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the South Korean Foreign Ministry declared, "With their public admission of the deployment, while claiming they are fully in accordance with international law, they are once again mocking the international community. We strongly condemn this action."
The ministry further stated that the dispatch of North Korean troops, along with broader military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, constitutes a violation of international norms, including the UN Charter and UN Security Council resolutions. It urged both Russia and North Korea to immediately cease their military cooperation, stressing that it undermines peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, including Europe. The statement follows North Korea's confirmation through state media, for the first time, of deploying troops to Russia to aid Moscow's war efforts in Kiev under a mutual defense treaty.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the deployment was executed by "the order" of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in accordance with the treaty signed with Moscow.
"The operations for liberating the Kursk area to repel the adventurous invasion of the Russian Federation by the Ukrainian authorities were victoriously concluded," KCNA reported, noting that subunits of the national armed forces participated in the operations "according to the order of the country's head of state," Kim Jong-un.
North Korean President Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the mutual defense treaty in Pyongyang in June last year, committing both nations to provide military aid to each other in the event of war.