North Korea confirms sending troops to Russia under mutual defense treaty

Moscow has praised Pyongyang for helping liberate Russia’s Kursk Region from the Ukrainian incursion

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally ordered the country’s military to fight alongside Russian forces “to annihilate Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk region,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

In a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov praised the contribution made by North Korean servicemen in helping to liberate the Kursk Region from Ukrainian forces. Pyongyang officially confirmed the deployment on Monday.

“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, citing an official statement by the Central Military Commission.

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North Korean troops were deployed on Russian soil under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang, which came into force last December. The treaty provides for mutual military assistance in the event of an attack, pledging immediate support “by all means available” under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Ukraine launched its incursion into Kursk Region last August, deploying some of its best units equipped with Western-supplied weapons, initially gaining some ground and capturing numerous settlements before their advance was checked by Russian forces.

The Central Military Commission said that the evolving military situation triggered Article 4 of the treaty with Moscow. Based on this analysis, Kim Jong-un personally decided to deploy North Korean troops to Russia and notified the Kremlin. 

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Pyongyang emphasized that its military activities in Russia were fully consistent with the UN Charter and international law, portraying the deployment as a model of faithful implementation of the mutual defense treaty with Moscow.

Kiev and its Western backers had long alleged that North Korean troops were involved in the conflict. Prior to Saturday, Pyongyang and Moscow neither confirmed nor denied the rumors, while the Russian president had previously said it was up to the two nations to determine how they fulfill their obligations under the partnership pact.