NYT: five thousand elite soldiers of the DPRK were transferred to the Kursk region
The New York Times reported on the transfer of several thousand North Korean soldiers to the Kursk region. According to the newspaper, these are fighters of the elite unit of the Korean People's Army, who will participate in the counteroffensive against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Earlier, the transfer was already announced in the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The assumption that the DPRK military will be sent to Kursk was also expressed by White House spokesman John Kirby. Russia and the DPRK deny information about sending North Korean soldiers to their military base. Details can be found in the material of "Gazeta.Ru".
Several thousand North Korean soldiers arrived in the Kursk region to participate in the counteroffensive against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was reported by The New York Times (NYT) newspaper with reference to unnamed American and Ukrainian officials.
According to the Ukrainian interlocutor of the publication, the DPRK military is transported from Vladivostok to a military airfield in western Russia on Il-76 transport planes, and then sent to a combat zone. The newspaper's sources claim that they are all fighters of an elite unit of the Korean People's Army.
At the same time, they also noted that "any significant contingent of North Korean troops will allow Russia to maintain more of its forces in eastern Ukraine, where they can focus on capturing as much territory of Ukraine as possible before the onset of severe winter."
The Ukrainian official said that by October 28, the contingent of the North Korean military in the Kursk region will reach five thousand people. According to him, it is not yet known whether the DPRK military will be sent to Ukraine. Currently, they are concentrated only in the Kursk region.
The fact that the North Korean military has already been spotted in the region was previously reported by the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. On October 25, they said that the first military units from the DPRK, who were trained at the eastern Russian training grounds, had already arrived in the combat zone - in particular, on October 23, 2024, their appearance was recorded in the Kursk region.
On October 26, the coordinator of strategic communications of the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, also suggested that troops from the DPRK, allegedly located on Russian territory, would be sent to the Kursk region.
"It is possible, even likely, that at least some of these North Korean troops may be deployed in the Kursk area. But in what capacity, for what purpose, it remains unclear," he said.
"If there are pictures, it means they reflect something"
Information that North Korean troops will go to the special operation zone has been discussed since the beginning of October. Last week, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced that North Korea had "actually joined" the conflict. After that, the head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov (listed in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist), said that about 11 thousand North Korean soldiers were preparing to take part in hostilities.
Zelensky later clarified that we are talking about 12 thousand military personnel - two brigades of six thousand people each.
On October 23, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the United States has evidence that North Korea has sent military forces to Russia, but Washington is unclear about the purpose of their alleged stay in Russia.
The Russian and North Korean authorities deny this information. The Russian Foreign Ministry called "stuffing" reports about sending soldiers from the DPRK to their homeland.
"Russian cooperation with the DPRK in the military sphere and in other spheres, firstly, complies with international law and does not violate it," said the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova.
The first secretary of the Permanent Mission of the DPRK to the United Nations, Il Ha Kim, also denied information about sending North Korean military personnel to Russia to participate in a special operation.
"These are (accusations against Pyongyang. - "Newspaper.En") is nothing but dirty maneuvers by the United States and its henchmen in order to disguise their crimes, provoke a prolongation of the Ukrainian crisis by supplying Ukraine with all types of lethal weapons prohibited by international law, including cluster bombs," Il Ha Kim said.
On October 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the situation for the first time. To the words of an NBC News journalist that satellite images show the presence of the DPRK military in Russia, Putin replied:
"Pictures are a serious thing, if there are pictures, then they reflect something."
The President also noted that Moscow has never doubted that Pyongyang takes the agreements seriously, recalling that Russia recently ratified the strategic partnership agreement with the DPRK.
"What and how we will do is our business. We are in touch with our friends from North Korea," the head of state stressed.
Eva Vishnevskaya
