North Korea will send thousands of workers to help rebuild Russia’s war-torn Kursk region, Moscow’s security chief has said on Tuesday.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, who held talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in its capital Pyongyang, described the deployment as “fraternal assistance”, Russian state media reported.
Neighbouring South Korea and Japan were quick to condemn the plan, with Seoul saying it was a violation of UN sanctions on North Korea, reports BBC.
For months concerns have swirled of deepening military collaboration between the two states, amid reports of thousands of North Korean soldiers helping Russia fight its war on Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying, “Chairman of the State Affairs of the DPRK Kim Jong Un has decided to send 1,000 sappers to Russia to clear mines on Russian territory, as well as 5,000 military construction workers to restore infrastructure destroyed by the occupiers.”
According to Shoigu, Moscow and Pyongyang also plan to create memorials for the Korean soldiers who died while liberating the Kursk Region.
North Korean state media also added that the meeting saw both Kim and Shoigu discuss other “long-term plans”
South Korea was quick to respond, with a foreign ministry official saying they had “grave concerns” over the “continuing illegal co-operation between North Korea and Russia”, local media reported.
Japan has also expressed worries over the co-operation.
“We are seriously concerned about these developments as it will worsen the Ukrainian situation and affect the regional security environment surrounding Japan,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Wednesday. North Korea send workers to Russia.
In November last year, Russia signed into law a mutual defence treaty with North Korea. Both countries had earlier said they would help each other in the event of “aggression” against either country, with Kim saying it took their relationship to a “new high level of alliance”.
South Korean intelligence officers say there are an estimated 15,000 North Koreans working in Russia under bilateral industrial co-operation programmes – a source of revenue for Pyongyang.
Russia and North Korean confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in Russia in April.
Despite drawing criticism from South Korea and the US, top Russian and North Korean officials have maintained regular contact as the war in Ukraine continues. When Shoigu visited Pyongyang earlier this month, Kim vowed to support Russia “unconditionally”, including on “the Ukrainian issue”, North Korean state media reported.
Shoigu also expressed hope that flights between Russia and North Korea will resume soon. Following his visit to Pyongyang, he recalled that railway communication between the two countries is currently being restored. “I hope that soon the first aircraft that has not flown for more than 30 years will take off,” he said.
Earlier in April, Russia also claimed it had regained full control of the western Kursk region, which has been denied by Ukraine.