The US says North Korean troops would be fair game if deployed to fight in Ukraine

The US has said for the first time it has evidence that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are being trained in Russia for possible use against Ukraine in a “very serious” escalation that would make them “legitimate military targets”.

White House national security spokesman John F. Kirby said North Korean troops were transported by ship from the North Korean port city of Wonsan to Vladivostok, Russia, sometime earlier this month.

Ukraine and South Korea have also sounded the alarm over North Korea allegedly sending soldiers to support the Russian war effort.

They have since been deployed to three different training areas in the Russian Far East, he added. “If they are used to fight Ukraine, they are fair game,” Kirby said.

“They are fair targets and the Ukrainian military will defend itself against North Korean soldiers in the same way it defends itself against Russian soldiers,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated this position on Wednesday.

“There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia,” Austin said, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“If they are co-belligerents – if they intend to participate in this war on behalf of Russia – that is a very, very serious problem. It will have an impact, not just in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

U.S. officials said the disclosure was based on information from declassified intelligence, but it was not certain whether North Korean soldiers would take part in the fighting in Ukraine.

It was South Korea that first claimed earlier this month that the Russian navy had transported about 1,500 North Korean special forces to support Moscow's war effort.

Then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev had information that North Korea was preparing 10,000 troops to fight alongside the Russians in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, South Korean intelligence chief Cho Tae-yong told lawmakers that another 1,500 troops from the North had reached Russia, according to Rep. Park Sunwon.

The intelligence agency estimated that North Korea planned to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December, said Mr. Park, who attended Mr. Cho's briefing.

The agency also said Pyongyang had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia since August 2023. Kiev released a video purporting to show dozens of North Koreans collecting Russian military uniforms, without providing further details.

North Korea, which has one of the world's largest standing armies with 1.2 million soldiers, has emerged as a key ally of Russia, especially since Kim Jong-un visited Russia last year and Vladimir Putin reciprocated by visiting Pyongyang this year traveled.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin signed a mutual defense treaty pledging to provide immediate military assistance in the event of an attack by either country.

Russia and North Korea have rejected the allegations. A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry described the allegations on Wednesday as a “colossal work of media propaganda.”