North Korea plans to send military construction workers and deminers to Russia

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends the Security Council meeting in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 10, 2024. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP File)

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to support reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region, a top Russian official said Tuesday, the latest sign of expanding cooperation between the nations.

North Korea has already supplied thousands of combat troops and a vast amount of conventional weapons to back Russia’s war against Ukraine. In April, Pyongyang and Moscow said that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region, though Ukraine has insisted it still has troops present there.

Wrapping up a one-day visit to Pyongyang, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send 1,000 sappers to clear mines in the Kursk region and 5,000 military construction workers to restore infrastructure there, according to Russia’s state news agency, Tass.

Another Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti, carried a similar report.

“Following the expulsion of invaders from Russian soil, we’ve agreed to continue our constructive cooperation, with the Korean side providing assistance in the restoration of the Kursk region,” Shoigu said, according to RIA Novosti. “This is a kind of brotherly aid being sent by the Korean people and their leader, Kim Jong Un, to our country.”

Shoigu said that Moscow and Pyongyang agreed to erect memorials in both countries in honor of North Korean soldiers who died while fighting in the Kursk region, according to Tass and RIA Novosti.

Kim repeats full support of Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim confirmed the contents of North Korea’s cooperation with Russia with regard to Kursk’s current situation but didn’t mention the dispatch of army construction workers and deminers cited by Russian media.

KCNA quoted Kim as expressing his resolve to “invariably and unconditionally support” what he called Russian efforts to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Kim has previously made similar comments in support of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

KCNA also said that Kim and Shoigu approved some plans for “conveying long the heroic feats displayed by” North Korean troops in operations to liberate the Kursk area, an apparent reference to the memorial construction plan.

North Korea and Russia have never disclosed how many North Korean troops have been sent to Russia or how many of them were killed. But according to South Korean, U.S. and Ukraine assessments, about 15,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia. South Korea’s spy agency said in April that about 600 North Korean soldiers died on the Russia-Ukraine battlefronts.

The deepening ties between North Korea and Russia have raised worries among the U.S., South Korea and their partners that Russian President Vladimir Putin may in return provide Kim with much-needed sophisticated technologies that can help advance his nuclear and missile programs.

The two countries, both in confrontations with the U.S. and its allies, have sharply grown closer to each other in recent years. In 2024, Kim and Putin signed a landmark defense treaty that requires each side to provide aid if the other is attacked.

It was Shoigu’s third visit to North Korea in about three months. The two countries have exchanged high-level visits in past years, with Kim travelling to Russia in 2023 and Putin to North Korea in 2024. Many observers say Kim could soon visit Russia again for another summit with Putin.

South Korea, U.S. and Japan react

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday expressed “grave concern” over what it described as ongoing illicit cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

The U.S. State Department told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that Russia’s continued use of North Korean workers and soldiers were “deeply concerning” and stated that Pyongyang was “now relying on Russia to provide it with desperately needed funds in exchange for labor and soldier for hire schemes.” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also expressed deep concern, saying advancing cooperation between Russia and North Korea threatens to jeopardize global security.

On Wednesday, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan flew fighter jets for a trilateral aerial training off South Korea’s southern Jeju island as part of their efforts to boost security cooperation to cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats, according to the South Korean air force.

In South Korea, there are worries that the 2024 North Korea-Russia defense treaty would lead to Russia intervening in a potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Experts say North Korea’s military would also obtain valuable combat experiences from the Russia-Ukraine war.

South Korea, the U.S. and others have stated the ongoing North Korean-Russia military cooperation involve elements that constitute clear violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, which ban any weapons transfer involving North Korea and required member states not to issue work permits to North Koreans.

In its closed-door briefing to lawmakers on April 30, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said that Russia had given North Korea air defense missiles, electronic warfare equipment, drones and technology for spy satellite launches. The NIS said that 15,000 North Korean laborers have also been sent to Russia under bilateral industrial cooperation programs, according to lawmakers who attended the briefing.

By Hyung-jin Kim, Kim Tong-hyung And Katie Marie Davies

Katie Marie Davies reported from Manchester, England. Dasha Litvinova contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.