North Korea involvement in Ukraine raises regional security risks
The deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine is unlikely to have a significant impact on the fighting on the ground but could affect security interests in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere, analysts said.
Growing military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang are a major concern for Washington and Brussels as Russian leader Vladimir Putin presses ahead with his efforts to build an anti-Western alliance.
“The conflict is becoming international,” said Pascal Dayez-Burgeon, a North Korea expert and former French diplomat in Seoul.
But while he said he understood Western concerns about the risk of the possible expansion of the war, now in its third year, he downplayed any immediate threat to the global security architecture.
“In reality, I find it hard to see North Korea presenting a threat of escalation,” he said, calling the North a “small dictatorship.”
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was planning to send North Korean troops into battle against his country as early as Sunday. He has claimed North Korea is training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia.
South Korea, NATO and the United States claim thousands of North Korean troops are already training in Russia.
On Thursday, Russian lawmakers voted unanimously to ratify a treaty with North Korea that provides for “mutual assistance” if either party faces aggression. South Korea warned it “won’t sit idle” over the North’s deployment of troops.
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