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| ▲ This photo, taken on June 4, 2024, shows National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby speaking during a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-US-Japan talks
Top S. Korean, U.S., Japanese security officials voice 'grave concern' over N. Korean troop dispatch to Russia: White House
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- The national security advisors of South Korea, the United States and Japan expressed "grave concern" over North Korea's troop dispatch to Russia potentially for use in the war against Ukraine as they held trilateral talks in Washington Friday, a White House official said.
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said that South Korean National Security Advisor Shin Won-sik and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jake Sullivan and Takeo Akiba, respectively, held a trilateral meeting on the matter and other issues.
The meeting came as Seoul and Washington have confirmed that Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to eastern Russia by ship earlier this month -- a culmination of their deepening military cooperation in the midst of Moscow's war in Ukraine.
"In particular, the national security advisors expressed grave concern over troop deployments by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Russia, potentially for use on the battlefield against Ukraine," he said in a virtual briefing, referring to North Korea by its official name.
"This deployment is the latest in a series of concerning indicators of deepening military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, including arms and ballistic missile transfers that are in direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions," he added.
The national security advisors called on Russia and the DPRK to cease these actions that "only serve to expand the security implications of Russia's brutal and illegal war beyond Europe and into the Indo- Pacific," according to Kirby.
Just hours earlier, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu said via state media that if true, the North's troop deployment would be in line with international law -- a remark seen as an apparent acknowledgement of the deployment.
On Monday, a North Korean representative at the United Nations rejected reports of the country's troop dispatch as a "groundless rumor."
Seoul's top intelligence agency has confirmed that Pyongyang is expected to send some 10,000 troops to Russia by the end of this year, including around 3,000 troops already dispatched. The White House has also said that at least 3,000 North Korean troops were moved to eastern Russia earlier this month.
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