North Korea dismisses allegations of troop deployment to Russia as 'groundless'

A North Korean representative to the UN speaks during a session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Oct. 21, 2024, in this grab from the UN WebTV.

SEOUL, October 22 (AJP) - North Korea has denied sweeping allegations that it is deploying military personnel to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

In a session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, a North Korean representative dismissed the allegations as "groundless stereotype rumors."

It was the first response from the isolated country after South Korea's spy agency said last week that North Korea had decided to dispatch around 12,000 troops to support Russia and had already deployed 1,500 special forces soldiers as the first batch to the Russian eastern city of Vladivostok, where they are being prepared to join the frontline. 

"As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel any need for a comment on such groundless stereotype rumors aimed at smearing the image of [North Korea] and undermining the legitimate, friendly and cooperative relations between sovereign states," he said.

In a similar manner, Russin representative Vassily Nebenzia vaguely said, the U.S. and its allies "have become distracted by circulating scare-mongering about Iranian, Chinese, and Korean boogeymen, each more absurd than the last."

But South Korean representative Hwang Jun-kook strongly condemned the alleged troop deployment. "By dispatching a large number of combatants, North Korea will likely become an active belligerent in warfare.....  It is a blatant attempt to undermine peace and security, not only in Europe and in Northeast Asia but also across the entire globe."

He also speculated that Pyongyang is expecting a "generous payoff" from Moscow in return for its troop deployment. "It could be either military or financial assistance. It could be nuclear weapons-related technology," he said.