UKRAIN – North Korean soldiers have clashed with Ukrainian troops for the first time, Ukraine’s top officials have revealed. In an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said a “small group” of North Korean soldiers were attacked. US officials told the Reuters news agency that North Korean troops were engaged in combat in the Kursk region of Russia on 4 November. Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who had earlier condemned the West’s lack of response to the North Korean troops, said these “first battles with North Korea open a new chapter of instability in the world”. Seoul, however, said it “does not believe [troops on both sides] engaged in direct combat”, but that there was an “incident” involving a small number of North Korean soldiers “near the frontline”. Ukraine says an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian troops have a foothold.

In recent weeks, South Korean and US intelligence as well as Nato have said that they have seen evidence of North Korean troops being involved in Russia’s war. But Moscow and Pyongyang have so far not responded directly to any of the allegations. Ukraine’s top counter-disinformation official Andriy Kovalenko first said in a Telegram post on Monday that North Korea’s “first military units… [had] already come under fire in Kursk”. In an interview with South Korean broadcaster KBS, Rustem Umerov confirmed this, saying he expects a “significant number” of the North Korean troops to be engaged in combat, though he added it was “so far just small contacts, not full-scale engagement”. Most of them are still undergoing training, he added. “They’re wearing Russian uniforms, they’re undergoing tactical training, and they’re being deployed under various commands of the Russian army on the front lines,” Umerov said.

Photo: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky estimates that some 11,000 North Korean troops are in Russia’s Kursk border region. (BBC)…[+]