Earlier this week, Putin introduced a bill to ratify the military agreement he struck with Kim Jong Un, which commits Russia and North Korea to help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country.
South Korea’s NIS intelligence agency said North Korean troops are training at Russian bases in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
This appears to confirm information from a military source in Russia’s Far East, who told BBC Russian this week that “some North Koreans have arrived” and have been stationed at a military base near Usuriysk.
Seoul’s spy agency also released aerial photos of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk, where they said hundreds of North Korean troops had gathered, and another photo of the North Korean port of Chongjin, which reportedly showed a Russian ship carrying North Korean soldiers.
The NIS said it discovered that North Korea had sent 13,000 cargo containers of projectiles, rockets and anti-armor missiles to Russia since August.
About eight million 122-mm and 152-mm projectiles were delivered to Russia, according to the report.
However, some military experts believe that Russian military units will have difficulty integrating North Korean troops into their front line.
Besides the language barrier, the North Korean military has no recent combat experience, they said.
“They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free up Russian units for combat operations elsewhere,” said Valery Rabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defense Express.
“I would rule out these units being on the front line right away.”
Additional reporting by Jake Kwon and Hosu Lee in Seoul
