North Korean Foreign Minister Heads to Moscow Amid Claims of Military Support for Russia in Ukraine War

North Korea’s foreign minister is heading to Moscow amid Western claims that thousands of soldiers have been deployed to Russia to support its war with Ukraine.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Tuesday and will visit Moscow on Wednesday, Russian state media Tass reported.
Before her flight to Russia, she met with Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said.
“On October 28, Ambassador Matsegora met at Pyongyang International Airport with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, who is leading a delegation on an official visit to Moscow,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
Tass said that the visit is part of a strategic dialogue agreement reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during Putin’s state visit to Pyongyang in June.
Choe arrived the day after NATO said that North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia to support its war with Ukraine.
The United States said it would not impose new limits on Ukraine’s use of American weapons if North Korea joins Russia’s war.
“Today, I can confirm that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a statement.
Rutte said that the move represents “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”
“The deployment of North Korean troops represents: one, a significant escalation in [North Korea’s] ongoing involvement in Russia’s illegal war. Two, yet another breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions. And three, a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war,” he said.
Lee Seong-kweun, a member of the South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee, said during a press briefing that, according to the intelligence agency’s assessment, the Russian military was attempting to teach military terminology to North Koreans.
“The Russian military was teaching the North Korean military some 100 Russian military terms such as ‘back to your position,’ ‘fire,’ and ‘launch’ … but the North Korean military was struggling [to understand],” Lee said.
North Korea had also sent some 4,000 workers to Russia this year, according to the lawmakers attending the parliamentary intelligence committee hearing.
A North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York said on Oct. 22 that the U.S. and South Korean intelligence assertions about sending troops to Russia were “groundless rumors.”