North Korea confirms for first time that it sent troops to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine

North Korea confirms for the first time that it sent troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence officials have said North Korea dispatched about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia last fall. But North Korea hadn’t confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until today.

Leader Kim Jong Un decided to send combat troops to Russia under a mutual defense treaty, the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party says in a statement.

It cites Kim as saying the deployment was meant to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.”

“They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim said, according to the statement sent to state media.

In March, South Korea’s military said North Korea sent about 3,000 additional troops to Russia earlier this year, after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs assessed that around 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though US estimates were lower at around 1,200.