Defense Minister says ‘North Koreans dispatched to Russia serve as cannon fodders on battlefields’

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun (left) and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol answer questions during a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly in Seoul on October 24. Reporter Park Min-gyu

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun evaluated North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia on October 24, saying, "The word is 'dispatch,' but in fact, they just serve as ‘cannon fodders’ on the battlefields.” Kim added, ”We are preparing a step-by-step response” in solidarity with the international community.

The minister said at a parliamentary audit of the Ministry of National Defense by the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, “It is accurate to evaluate that ’Kim Jong-un has sold the North Korean soldiers as human shields for the illegal war of aggression.’” The day before, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported to the National Assembly that a total of 10,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed to Russia by this December.

“Normally, when soldiers are deployed, they maintain the command structure of their country‘s army and operate under the country’s uniforms, markings, and flag,” Kim said, adding, ”North Korean soldiers are disguised in Russian uniforms and operating under Russian military control without any operational authority.”

Regarding the reason for North Korea's dispatch of troops, Kim said, "(Kim Jong-un) is trying to solidify and maintain the dictatorship. North Korea is in a state of hushing up the dispatch without informing its people for fear of being found out.”

The defense minister also said, “The weapons provided by North Korea are mainly missiles and artillery shells, whose number is close to 10 million shells.” Before the summit between North Korea and Russia in September last year, North Korea “provided mainly weapons, but after October there was a big turning point when troops started to be dispatched,” Kim said.

“We are preparing to provide support in stages in solidarity with the international community, including North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” Kim said. Asked if there was a possibility of sending monitoring agents to Ukraine, Kim said, “It is included in one of the step-by step countermeasures.” Kim Byung-joo, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said, "Whether it is an analysis team or a monitoring team, it is clearly a dispatch, so it needs to obtain the consent of the National Assembly." However, Kim said that individual transfers do not require parliamentary consent.

Kim added there is a possibility that North Korea could test a normal-angle launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election on November 5. “The North’s goal is to successfully conduct a re-entry test (in which a missile warhead enters the atmosphere from space),” Kim said.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol said at the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's comprehensive parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Unification that the dispatch of North Korean troops "is not a situation where we can sit idle because it eventually comes back as a threat to our security." He added, "How can we say that North Korea has no interest in helping Russia? It will not come at no cost.”

Defense minister said, “China was probably excluded from this (dispatch) process. I don't think China has tolerated and been the subject of consultation." In response to the question of whether mentioning the provision of offensive weapons to Ukraine could be considered a participation in the war in Ukraine, Cho said it was a “logical leap,” and that "it is necessary to urge withdrawal and curb additional dispatch by expressing a strong response policy and willingness to take action."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.