North Korea sent its foreign minister to Russia for her third trip in less than a year just as its troops arrived in Russia’s Kursk region near the border with Ukraine, a move that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described as a “significant escalation” in the two-and-half year old conflict.
Choe Son Hui departed Pyongyang on Monday, leading a delegation on an official visit to Russia, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a two-sentence dispatch. Separately, Yonhap News reported that Choe’s agenda could include talks to arrange Kim Jong Un’s potential trip to Moscow, without citing sources.
Choe will discuss with her Russian counterparts bilateral ties as well as issues of international politics to follow up on a meeting of their leaders in June, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said. During the June meeting, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked.
The deepening ties between North Korea and Russia have alarmed South Korea and its allies, and they have been discussing options to counter the move. Officials say Russia’s decision to bring in North Korean troops marks a turning point in the war as it broadens into an increasingly global one with more outside actors.
In response, Seoul has raised the prospect of supplying arms to Ukraine, underscoring the risk of dragging the divided Korean peninsula into the conflict.
It’s still unclear how the North Korean troops will aid Russia’s fight against Ukraine, as well as when or if they will engage in combat but South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday that they could join the battlefield earlier than expected, without giving further details.
Choe’s last public visit to Moscow was in January when she held talks with President Vladimir Putin in a meeting the U.S. and its partners saw as facilitating arms shipments from North Korea to aid the Kremlin’s assault on Ukraine.
The frequent high-level delegation visit is a sign of growing friendship between Putin and Kim, after they have become increasingly isolated by leading democracies. The U.S. and South Korea have accused Kim of sending millions of rounds of artillery shells and scores of ballistic missiles to Putin, in exchange for aid propping up North Korea’s economy and advancing its weapons systems.
“We are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces in Kursk near the border with Ukraine,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday, adding that around 10,000 troops have arrived in eastern Russia.
Pyongyang’s troops arrive in Russia at a time when Ukraine is also desperate for more manpower and as it tries to maintain its grip on the territory in Kursk to shore up its bargaining power for the possibility of eventual talks with Moscow.
What option to employ in response may divide the U.S. and its allies. They will have to decide whether to match escalation with escalation over North Korea’s moves. Pyongyang’s troops arrive in Russia at a time when Ukraine is also desperate for more manpower and as it tries to maintain its grip on the territory in Kursk to shore up its bargaining power for the possibility of eventual talks with Moscow.
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