"A delegation of South Korean intelligence and defense chiefs briefed the 32 NATO allies last week and our partners from the Indo-Pacific region for the deployment of thousands of North Korean military personnel in Russia's Kursk region with the intention of participating in the war against Ukraine," noted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a publication in Politico magazine.
North Korean troops on European soil is certainly a historical fact - and for the wrong reasons. For the first time in a century, Russia is inviting foreign troops to the country, Rutte commented for the publication.
This has an incredible price. Russia is suffering around 1,200 casualties per day - more than 600,000 since February 2022. And unable to face the political cost of mass mobilization, Putin has now chosen to call in military personnel from North Korea as well, the NATO Secretary General points out.
This dangerous expansion of the conflict escalates the war and shows that our security is not regional, but global, Rutte wrote in "Politico".
"Putin certainly does not get this support for free. In return, the Russian president is supporting Kim Jong-un's cash-strapped regime and providing Pyongyang with military technology that the North Korean dictator uses to pose a threat to its neighbors by increasing instability on the Korean Peninsula, the general noted. Secretary of NATO.
In addition, the North Koreans, who have not fought a war in over 70 years, will now gain valuable battlefield experience and insight into modern conflicts. Just last week, Pyongyang tested a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile - the first such test in a year, in yet another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, Rutte said in "Politico".
Deepening military and economic ties between a bold Russia and an emboldened North Korea not only threatens Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security, but is also very dangerous for global security, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warns in "Politico" ;.