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The US asks China for help as North Korean troops approach Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Beijing to “use the influence they have” as North Korean troops don Russian uniforms to fight in Ukraine.

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With 8,000 North Korean troops now poised to join Russia's fight in Ukraine, the US is turning to China to use its ties with Moscow and Pyongyang to “contain” the incursion of North Korean forces.

The United States had a “vigorous conversation” with China this week about sending North Korean troops to Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts on Thursday.

“I think they understand the concerns we have and the expectations that they will use their influence, both in words and in actions, to curb these activities,” he said.

What North Korea might receive from Russia in return for the troops “should be a real concern for China,” Blinken added.

More: Chaos as Russia seeks to absorb North Korean troops, Ukrainian spies say

The New York Times reported that Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Daniel J. Kritenbrink and James O'Brien, the State Department's top Asia and Europe officials, met with Chinese officials on Tuesday.

Blinken said 8,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Kursk, the region just across the border inside Russia where Ukrainian troops staged an incursion in August. The Russian military trained them in artillery, drones and trench clearing, he said.

Austin said the troops received Russian military uniforms and equipment.

More: North Korea's missile test records longest flight time ever

The Pentagon said on Monday that 10,000 troops were on the ground in Russia and training at military bases in the country's Far East.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called the move a “dangerous expansion” of the Ukraine war, a “dangerous escalation” of North Korea's involvement and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“Deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” he said.

More: The US and its allies say they have evidence of North Korean troops being stationed in Ukraine

China defies the US in close relations with Russia and North Korea

China rejected U.S. calls to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Russia increasingly relied on China for trade as it was cut off from the global economy by U.S. and other sanctions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed in May to deepen ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and gave the U.S. the cold shoulder after Blinken flew to Beijing in a diplomatic gesture. And he attended the recent BRICS summit in Russia last week.

China has also maintained friendly relations with North Korea despite its gradual isolation over the years.

Still, North Korea's regular missile tests sometimes annoy its northern neighbor. According to a Brookings Institution report, China condemned a North Korean missile test launch in 2017 and voted for several UN Security Council resolutions that increased economic pressure on North Korea that same year and raised tensions between the two countries.

But relations between the two countries have improved in recent years. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a secret visit to Beijing in 2018, and Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to North Korea in 2019 was the first time in 14 years that a Chinese leader had visited the country.

China now accounts for more than 90% of North Korea's trade, and two countries have renewed an alliance treaty first signed in 1961.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. You can reach her by email at [email protected]. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.

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