SEOUL, South Korea — About 3,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and they are now receiving training on drones and other equipment before being deployed to battlefields in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy chief told lawmakers Monday.
In a closed-door parliamentary committee briefing, National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong said another 1,500 North Korean troops have joined the 1,500 his agency estimated were in the country last week, according to lawmaker Park Sunwon, who attended the briefing.
Cho told lawmakers that his agency assessed that North Korea aims to deploy a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December, Park told reporters.
Park cited Cho as saying the 3,000 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia have been split among multiple military bases and are in training. Cho told lawmakers that NIS believes they have yet to be deployed in battle, according to Park.
Speaking jointly with Park about the NIS briefing, lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun said that the NIS found that the Russian military is now teaching those North Korean soldiers how to use military equipment such as drones.
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