Latest news with #Kim Jong Un
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Ukraine denies North Korea planning to send 30,000 more troops to Russia
Kyiv's military intelligence agency has denied a report that North Korea plans to send up to 30,000 additional troops to Russia in the coming months to aid in Moscow's war in Ukraine. The denial of a CNN report earlier this month citing Ukrainian intelligence and Western security sources came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Pyongyang is ready to "unconditionally support" Moscow's every effort to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday. Lavrov, who wrapped up a three-day visit to North Korea the same day, expressed Moscow's intention to 'further intensify the strategic and tactical cooperation' between the two sides 'in the international arena,' according to KCNA. Pyongyang has provided troops and weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine, and has pledged continued military support as Moscow looks to solidify gains made in recent months — a move that highlights the speed at which bilateral ties have deepened since the nations signed a mutual defense treaty just over a year ago. But the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence told The Japan Times in an emailed statement over the weekend that it 'has no information regarding plans to increase the contingent of the Korean People's Army on the territory of the Russian Federation to 30,000 military personnel in the coming months.' Such a move would almost triple the total number of North Korean soldiers directly supporting Moscow after an estimated 14,000 were sent last year to repel Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region. It would also mark an intensification of the more than 3-year-old conflict that is now stretching across Europe and Asia. Instead, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency confirmed that it believed Pyongyang is preparing to send military engineering units totaling 6,000 military personnel — 1,000 sappers and 5,000 engineering and construction troops — to clear mines and carry out reconstruction work in the Kursk region over the next two months. 'The transfer of these units is planned to be carried out in batches of 1,500 to 3,000 personnel in two or three stages during July and August of this year,' the agency said, revealing details of the deployment for the first time. Also planned is the deployment to Russia of 50 to 100 units of North Korean equipment, including M2010, or Cheonma-D, main battle tanks and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers. This image taken from Korean Central Television on June 29 shows a screen displaying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touching flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed fighting Ukrainian forces, during an event attended by Kim and Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova in Pyongyang. | KCTV / VIA AFP-JIJI A deal on the dispatch of those troops was announced by Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in mid-June following talks with Kim in Pyongyang, a meeting Shoigu said was meant to carry out "special instructions" from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latest developments come as Pyongyang on Sunday slammed a joint aerial exercise recently conducted by the United States, Japan and South Korea that featured several fighter aircraft and at least one U.S. B-52 heavy bomber, marking the aircraft's first deployment to the Korean Peninsula this year. In a separate KCNA report, Pyongyang expressed 'serious concern' over what it views as persistent 'provocative and threatening military actions' by the three countries, and issued a warning of 'grave consequences' should they continue to 'deliberately ignore' North Korea's security concerns. Held Friday over international waters south of Jeju Island to 'strengthen deterrence and response capabilities,' the exercises coincided with a trilateral Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting held in Seoul earlier in the day. 'This year the U.S. is continuously posing a danger to the security environment of our state while renewing the records in the number of deploying strategic strike means on the Korean peninsula and drastically increasing the frequency and scale of joint military drills with its satellite countries,' Pyongyang said, adding that the trilateral military cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul 'is getting more offensive.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kim renews North Korea's support for Russia over Ukraine, state media reports
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has reassured Russia of 'unconditional support' from Pyongyang to Moscow in its every effort to resolve the war in Ukraine, its state media reported on Sunday. Mr Kim's continued diplomatic help from North Korea came as he met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who was on a three-day visit to North Korea and described the two countries' relations as 'an invincible fighting brotherhood'. The two leaders met in North Korea's eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where both countries held their high-level strategic dialogue, for the second time this year, pledging mutual cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang under a partnership treaty signed last year. Russian media said Mr Lavrov also thanked the North Korean leader for the troops deployed to Russia. The Russian foreign minister also passed on a message from Putin to Mr Kim, hoping for more direct contacts in future, reported Tass news agency. Russia and North Korea have also signed a mutual defence treaty, which obliges them to immediately provide military assistance using 'all means' if either is attacked – marking the strongest military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. "Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis," KCNA said, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name. Mr Kim told the Russian foreign minister that the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported. Mr Lavrov also met his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui in Wonsan on Saturday where the two signed a joint statement offering support to safeguard each other's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Alienated on the world stage and facing crunching financial sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has extended its diplomatic ties with the hermit kingdom North Korea and sought military assistance in soldiers and ammunition. The ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have soared to their historic best during the last two years, with North Korea deploying more than 10,000 of its troops and arms to Russia to help with Vladimir Putin's invasion of its smaller neighbour. This comes as on Sunday, South Korean defence ministry's intelligence arm reported to the parliament that North continued to supply artillery ammunition to Russia and has so far shipped about 12 million rounds. In another display of their growing bilateral ties, North Korea last month agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region where Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border incursion in August.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Kim renews North Korea's support for Russia over Ukraine, state media reports
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has reassured Russia of 'unconditional support' from Pyongyang to Moscow in its every effort to resolve the war in Ukraine, its state media reported on Sunday. Mr Kim's continued diplomatic help from North Korea came as he met with Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who was on a three-day visit to North Korea and described the two countries' relations as 'an invincible fighting brotherhood'. The two leaders met in North Korea's eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, where both countries held their high-level strategic dialogue, for the second time this year, pledging mutual cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang under a partnership treaty signed last year. Russian media said Mr Lavrov also thanked the North Korean leader for the troops deployed to Russia. The Russian foreign minister also passed on a message from Putin to Mr Kim, hoping for more direct contacts in future, reported Tass news agency. Russia and North Korea have also signed a mutual defence treaty, which obliges them to immediately provide military assistance using 'all means' if either is attacked – marking the strongest military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. "Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis," KCNA said, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name. Mr Kim told the Russian foreign minister that the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics will contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported. Mr Lavrov also met his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui in Wonsan on Saturday where the two signed a joint statement offering support to safeguard each other's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Alienated on the world stage and facing crunching financial sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has extended its diplomatic ties with the hermit kingdom North Korea and sought military assistance in soldiers and ammunition. The ties between Moscow and Pyongyang have soared to their historic best during the last two years, with North Korea deploying more than 10,000 of its troops and arms to Russia to help with Vladimir Putin 's invasion of its smaller neighbour. This comes as on Sunday, South Korean defence ministry's intelligence arm reported to the parliament that North continued to supply artillery ammunition to Russia and has so far shipped about 12 million rounds. In another display of their growing bilateral ties, North Korea last month agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region where Ukraine launched an audacious cross-border incursion in August.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,235
Here is how things stand on Sunday, July 13: Fighting Ukrainian officials said Russian air attacks overnight on Saturday killed at least two people in the western city of Chernivtsi and wounded 38 others across Ukraine. The raids also damaged civilian infrastructure from Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast to Lviv, Lutsk and Chernivtsi in the west. The Russian Ministry of Defence said it attacked companies in Ukraine's military-industrial complex in Lviv, Kharkiv and Lutsk, as well as a military aerodrome. The United Nations Human Rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said that June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured. In Russia, a man was killed in the Belgorod region after a shell struck a private house, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Politics and diplomacy North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told visiting Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov that his country was ready to 'unconditionally support' all actions taken by Moscow in Ukraine. Earlier, Lavrov held talks with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, in Wonsan, and they issued a joint statement pledging support to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other's countries, according to North Korean state media. Lavrov also warned the United States, South Korea and Japan against forming 'alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia'. Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, said his government hoped to reach an agreement with the European Union and its partners on guarantees that Slovakia would not suffer from the end of Russian gas supplies by Tuesday. Slovakia has been blocking the EU's 18th sanctions package on Russia over its disagreement with a proposal to end all imports of Russian gas from 2028. Slovakia, which gets the majority of its gas from Russian supplier Gazprom under a long-term deal valid until 2034, argues the move could cause shortages, a rise in prices and transit fees, and lead to damage claims. Russia blamed Western sanctions for the collapse of its agreement with the UN to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilisers. The three-year agreement was signed in 2022 in a bid to rein in global food prices. Weapons Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was 'close to reaching a multilevel agreement' with the US 'on new Patriot systems and missiles for them'. Ukraine was stepping up production of its own interceptor systems, he added.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea reaffirms support for Russia's war in Ukraine
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered Moscow his "unconditional support" on the war in Ukraine, according to Pyongyang state media reports. In talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in North Korea, Kim said that Pyongyang stood by "all the measures taken by the Russian leadership" to tackle the "root cause of the Ukrainian crisis". Western officials believe Pyongyang has sent an estimated 11,000 troops to Russia over the last year to fight against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to North Korean state media KCNA news agency, Kim and Lavrov met on Saturday in "an atmosphere full of warm comradely trust". The North Korean leader also expressed a "firm belief that the Russian army and people would surely win victory in accomplishing the sacred cause of defending the dignity and basic interests of the country". On Telegram, Russia's foreign ministry posted a video showing the two men shaking hands and greeting each other with a hug. Lavrov also met with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui and thanked the "heroic" North Korean soldiers deployed to aid Russia, Russia's TASS news agency reported. North Korea's renewed military support for Russia comes as US President Donald Trump has resumed military supplies to Ukraine, after a brief hiatus. Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he had made a deal with Nato for the US to send Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine via the alliance, after a surge of Russian aerial attacks. Pyongyang first publicly acknowledged sending troops to Russia in April, months after Ukraine and the West revealed the large-scale troop movement from North Korea to the Russian-Ukrainian frontline. Kim signed an accord with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in June last year, agreeing to support each other if either country was dealing with "aggression". Apart from soldiers, North Korea also promised to send thousands of workers to help rebuild Russia's war-torn Kursk region, Moscow's security chief said last month. N Korea confirms it sent troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine war North Korea has sent more troops to Russia, South's spy agency says Why did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine?
