North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the country’s military to improve capabilities for fighting a war in a speech last week, state media KCNA said on Monday, after Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to Russia.
The report came amid international criticism over rapidly developing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
Washington, Seoul and Kyiv have said there are more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, and some of them have engaged in combat in Kursk, near the Ukraine border.
Biden’s administration has allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, sources told NBC News, marking a significant policy reversal and a response to Russia’s deployment of North Korean ground troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that North Korean troops had suffered casualties in combat with his country’s forces, and the first battles between them "open a new page in instability.”
Persons:
Kim Jong Un, KCNA, Kim, ”, “, ” KCNA, Alexander Kozlov, Joe Biden, Yoon Suk Yeol, Shigeru Ishiba, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Organizations:
Korean, Ukraine, National Resources and Ecology, South, Economic Cooperation, NBC
Locations:
Pyongyang, Russia, United States, South Korea, North Korea, Washington, Seoul, Kyiv, Kursk, Ukraine, Russian, Asia, Peru, Korean