NATO Chief Discusses North Korea’s Troop Dispatch to Russia with South Korean President

Seoul: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed his concerns to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol about North Korea's plans to dispatch troops to Russia, highlighting the potential escalation in the Ukraine conflict. According to Yonhap News Agency, the conversation between Rutte and Yoon focused on the strengthening of defense industrial cooperation and the broader strategic partnership between NATO and South Korea. Rutte emphasized the critical nature of the interconnected security between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions during their discussions. Rutte took to the social media platform X to share insights from his discussion with Yoon. He articulated that the deployment of North Korean troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine could significantly escalate the situation. This revelation followed a report from South Korea's National Intelligence Service last Friday, which indicated that North Korea had decided to send approximately 12,000 troops to aid Russia, with about 1,500 alr eady dispatched to the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Russian naval vessels.