North Korea is sending a foreign minister to Russia as its troops train to fight Ukraine

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday that its top diplomat is visiting Russia, another sign of its deepening ties as rival South Korea and Western nations say the North has sent thousands of troops to fight Russia's war in Ukraine to support.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui left for Russia on Monday, but did not specify the purpose of the visit. In a closed-door hearing in South Korea's parliament, South Korea's spy service said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions about sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return, according to Lee Seong-kweun Legislators who attended the meeting.

The announcement of Choe's visit came hours after the Pentagon announced that North Korea had deployed to Russia about 10,000 soldierswho are likely to fight Ukraine “in the next few weeks.”

South Korean and Western leaders have expressed concerns that North Korea's involvement could help prolong Russia's aggression in Ukraine and that Russia could offer technology in return that could increase the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said a “relatively small number” of North Korean troops are currently in the Kursk region, where Russia is stationed fought to repel a Ukrainian incursion. He did not want to give a more precise number. A few thousand more soldiers are on their way in that direction, he told reporters on Tuesday.

“Right now, it remains to be seen exactly how the Russians and North Koreans will deploy these forces,” Ryder said, adding that he expects the deployment to be discussed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their South Korean counterparts at their meeting this week in Washington.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers it was examining the possibility that some groups of North Korean military personnel in Russia, including generals or other senior officials, had already moved to frontline areas. The spy service said the two sides appeared to be having difficulty resolving communications issues, although the Russian military is training North Korean troops in Russian military terminology, Lee said.

The agency said space-based reconnaissance is an area where North Korea is likely to receive Russian help. It said North Korea may be acquiring advanced components from Russia as it prepares to launch another military reconnaissance satellite failed attempt in Maysaid Park Sun-won, another lawmaker who attended the hearing.

North Korea put a spy satellite into orbit for the first time last November. Its leader Kim Jong Un has described these assets as crucial to monitoring South Korean and American military activities and amplifying the threat from its nuclear-capable missiles.

In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia could pose a “major security threat” to Seoul as the North gains access to Russian technology and its troops gain combat experience .

The leaders confirmed plans to exchange government delegations as part of efforts to strengthen communications and coordinate their responses to the conflict, Yoon's office said.

In previous talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Yoon called for closer coordination with European governments to “monitor and block illegal exchanges” between Pyongyang and Moscow.

After initially denying claims of North Korean troops being stationed, Pyongyang and Moscow have now taken a more vague stance, claiming that their military cooperation is consistent with international law without directly acknowledging the presence of North Korean forces in Russia.

North Korea has also been accused of supplying Russia with millions of artillery shells and other military equipment to fuel its war in Ukraine. The United States and its partners have called Russia's procurement of North Korean personnel and aid a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and expressed suspicion that Moscow is helping Pyongyang evade sanctions and improperly finance its weapons program.

Russia, along with China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts in the Security Council to tighten sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile tests, which intensified after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia too vetoed a UN resolution in March to extend the observers' mandate, effectively eliminating UN expert monitoring of Security Council sanctions against North Korea. This sparked accusations in the West that Moscow wanted to shield its arms purchases from Pyongyang.

“The illegal military collusion between Russia and North Korea represents a significant security threat to the international community and a serious matter that could potentially harm our security. “We must thoroughly examine all options and prepare countermeasures,” Yoon said at a Cabinet meeting in Seoul on Tuesday.

Yoon raised the possibility last week Delivery of weapons to Ukraine At the same time, he said Seoul is preparing countermeasures that could be implemented gradually depending on the level of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.

South Korea, a growing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian aid and other non-lethal support to Ukraine and joined U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. It has so far resisted calls from Kiev and NATO to supply weapons directly to Ukraine, citing its long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries in active conflict.

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Associated Press reporter Lolita C. Baldor contributed from Washington.