North Korean troops are likely to join combat operations against Ukrainian forces inside Russia in the “coming days” after about 8,000 of them have been deployed to the occupied Kursk region, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday, hours after Pyongyang launched a powerful new ballistic missile in a double display of bellicosity.
The sizable, rapid deployment of the North Korean personnel marks a rare instance of Russia’s need for military help on its own soil, as Ukraine has successfully held the border territory since its surprise incursion in August. The Biden administration believes Russia has trained the North Koreans to operate artillery and drones and perform basic infantry operations such as trench clearing, signs they are about to join the fighting, Blinken said.
To date, about 10,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, U.S. and South Korean officials have said.
Speaking in Washington alongside their South Korean counterparts, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. government had appealed to China, which has deep economic ties with Moscow and Pyongyang, and urged its leaders to intervene. Beijing, Austin said, “should be asking Russia some hard questions at this point about whether it intends to broaden this conflict.”
Officials said that what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched by North Korea earlier in the day flew even farther than one tested in December — which traveled far enough to strike anywhere in the mainland United States. With Blinken warning that Russia was likely to supply technology to Pyongyang in exchange for its combat assistance, Thursday’s actions were a demonstration of one of the largest foreign policy challenges facing the next U.S. president: the increasing alignment among Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
“We condemn it in the strongest terms,” Blinken told reporters, adding that “all countries should be demanding that the DPRK cease these destabilizing actions.” The missile launch, he noted, violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his regime wanted to show the United States and South Korea that it would resist the “dangerous tightening of their nuclear alliance.”
Japan’s defense minister said the new long-range weapon reached an altitude of 4,350 miles — significantly higher than previous launches, including the solid-fueled Hwasong-18 tested by Pyongyang in December.
North Korea is working to perfect an ICBM that puts the United States within range and that could eventually carry and deliver nuclear warheads.
The missile launch comes as tensions rise between Washington and Pyongyang over Kim’s growing military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In recent months, Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have been holding joint military exercises in the Pacific Ocean aimed at strengthening their cooperation in the face of Pyongyang’s nuclear threats. North Korea has long viewed these drills as hostile acts and has used them to justify its weapons development and nuclear program.
Kim was present at the site of the launch, which came just hours after U.S. and South Korean defense officials condemned Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to Russia and days before the U.S. presidential election.
In a rare same-day statement, Kim said the launch was an “appropriate military action” as North Korea’s “rivals” — whom he did not name but by which he usually means the United States, South Korea and Japan — had “intentionally intensified the regional situation.”
This highlighted “the importance of strengthening our nuclear forces,” he said, according to a statement published by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
Blinken and Austin warned Thursday that their concern was not just the North Korean support for Russia — a step they portrayed as likely to have only modest consequences for ground operations — but what the Kremlin supplies Kim in return as Pyongyang tries to boost its missile program and otherwise expand its military capabilities.
Austin said the Kremlin’s request for help from North Korea was a sign of increasing Russian frailty in its war against Ukraine, which has stretched more than 2½ years.
“By tin-cupping to North Korea for manpower,” Austin said, Putin is “showing the world another clear sign of weakness.”
The two U.S. leaders met Thursday with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, part of an annual series of talks.
“We are in the most stern security environment since the Cold War,” Kim Yong-hyun said Thursday.
U.S. and NATO officials called North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia a “very, very serious issue” that could have reverberations in both Europe and the Pacific.
U.S. officials have said they hope to use the North Korea issue as a wedge between Russia and China, which also has provided significant support to the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine but views North Korea’s military activities with wariness.
“China has been reticent about making its position known, but I believe that it is finding it very uncomfortable the whole situation,” Cho told reporters after the meetings with Blinken and Austin.
Asked whether the North’s direct entry into the Ukraine conflict would compel South Korea to join other nations providing weapons to Kyiv, Cho said “relevant measures, corresponding measures, will be taken accordingly” once it’s clear how deeply Moscow and Pyongyang intend to cooperate militarily.
“We need to see the level of involvement of the DPRK forces in Russia, and we also need to watch what kind of quid pro quo the DPRK will be receiving from Russia,” he said. “We will have to watch that before making a decision as to the weapons support that we will be providing to Ukraine.”
North Korea did not specify the name of the missile it tested Thursday, but officials in Tokyo and Seoul said it appeared to be a new type of solid-fuel ICBM. Most countries with ICBM capability, including Russia, China and the United States, maintain a mix of solid- and liquid-propelled types.
Solid propellant, made by packing fuel and oxidizer together into a hard mixture, is dense, stable and can be preloaded onto a rocket. This feature enables solid-fuel missiles to be deployed more quickly than liquid propellants and avoid early detection.
Liquid propellant, used in North Korea’s older ICBM systems, requires fuel and oxidizer to be loaded on-site ahead of a launch, meaning there are more steps for preparation.
Last week, Kim publicly visited an ICBM base for the first time and called for his country to improve its ability to deliver its long-range missiles “swiftly.”
North Korea launched the missile at 7:10 a.m. local time eastward from a site near Pyongyang, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It flew for a record 86 minutes, according to Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani.
As usual, North Korea aimed for height instead of distance with the launch to try to ensure the missile did not hit land. It traveled about 621 miles, splashing down west of Okushiri Island in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and northern Japan.
The launch was not completely unexpected. On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Agency had warned that the North was preparing for what could be an ICBM launch around the time of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Lee reported from Tokyo. Julia Mio Inuma contributed to this report.
