INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korean soldiers are likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed already killed and more expected to be
deployed, Seoul's defense minister said Tuesday.Ukrainian media have reported that six North Korean military officers were killed in a
Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk on Oct
3.Seoul's defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told lawmakers Tuesday that it was "highly likely" that the report was true."We assess that the
occurrence of casualties among North Korean officers and soldiers in Ukraine is highly likely, considering various circumstances," he
said.North Korea is expected to send more foot soldiers to support Russia's war effort, he added."The issue of deploying regular troops is
highly likely due to the mutual agreements that resemble a military alliance between Russia and North Korea," Kim said.Both Ukraine and
Russia have foreign fighters in their ranks, with AFP journalists in India and Nepal having investigated recruitment drives for the Russian
have denied.South Korea also claims Pyongyang has sent thousands of containers of weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine.The nuclear-armed
North has publicly bolstered military ties with Moscow in recent years.President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June,
where he signed a mutual defense agreement with leader Kim Jong Un.Analysts have warned that the recent ramped-up testing and production of
artillery and cruise missiles by the North could be in preparation for shipments to Russia.Experts said that moving from supplying shells to
soldiers to Russia was the logical next step."For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it's crucial to
learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far
war-time training," he told AFP.It is likely that higher-ranking North Korean officials would have been dispatched to Russia earlier on, to
help manage the North Korean weaponry or facilitate trainings on their use, Lim said."What's new here is not only the potential for
continued artillery and weapons support from North Korea but also their growing involvement, such as using North Koreans as additional labor
as the war drags on."The key question, he added, is what North Korea will get in return from Russia.North Korea is barred by United Nations
sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology.But Moscow used its UN Security Council veto in March to effectively end UN monitoring
of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Russia.North Korea is expected to scrap a landmark inter-Korean agreement signed
in 1991 at a parliamentary meeting this week, as part of Kim's drive to officially define the South, Washington's security ally, as an
enemy state.Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea's founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
