新湖畔网 （随信APP) | 首尔要求朝鲜立即撤回在俄罗斯的军队

一名男子走过首尔街头展示的报纸，报道了朝鲜决定向俄罗斯部署数千名士兵 - 版权AFP安东尼·沃利斯

韩国周一召见俄罗斯大使，批评平壤决定派遣数千名士兵支援莫斯科在乌克兰的战争，外交部表示，并呼吁他们立即撤军。

首尔间谍机构周五表示，已有约1500名朝鲜特种部队士兵在俄罗斯，正在适应环境，可能很快就会前往前线，平壤将派遣更多部队很快出发，这是朝鲜首次在海外进行此类部署。

韩国长期以来声称，拥有核武器的朝鲜向俄罗斯提供武器供在乌克兰使用，首尔对这一军队部署表示担忧，此前金正恩和俄罗斯总统普京在6月签署了一项军事协议。

韩国副外长金洪均对俄罗斯大使谢尔盖· 日诺维耶夫表示：“韩国对朝鲜最近派遣士兵到俄罗斯的行为表示严重关切，并强烈要求朝鲜立即撤回军队。”

首尔间谍机构发布了详细的卫星图像，显示第一批来自朝鲜精英“风暴军团”的1500名特种部队士兵已经抵达俄罗斯的符拉迪沃斯托克，乘坐了俄军军舰。

金表示，此举“不仅对韩国，而且对国际社会构成重大安全威胁”。

朝鲜和俄罗斯都受到联合国制裁的影响 - 金正恩因其武器计划，莫斯科因在乌克兰的战争。

金洪均表示，两国的军事合作违反了安理会决议。

俄罗斯大使日诺维耶夫在一份声明中表示：“俄罗斯与朝鲜之间的合作……并非针对韩国安全利益。”

尚未确认朝鲜军队部署的北约表示，这“将标志着冲突的显著升级”，马克·吕特主席周一在X上表示。

- 乌克兰的朝鲜人？ -

世宗研究所朝鲜半岛战略主任张成昌表示：“韩国对俄罗斯的抗议对于莫斯科与朝鲜的军事合作不会产生任何改变。”

为了派遣士兵帮助俄罗斯在乌克兰，金正恩“旨在获得各种军事技术，从监视卫星到潜艇”，他说。

他说，朝鲜士兵很快可能会在乌克兰的前线，补充说“尚不清楚他们在冲突过程中会产生多大影响”。

首尔间谍机构表示，自10月8日至13日，“朝鲜通过俄罗斯海军运输船向俄罗斯运送特种部队，证实了朝鲜参与莫斯科在乌克兰战争的开始。”

NIS还表示，目前驻扎在俄罗斯远东基地的特种部队“预计在完成适应训练后会很快部署到（乌克兰冲突的）前线”。

NIS还表示，自去年8月以来，朝鲜已向俄罗斯提供了“价值超过13,000个集装箱的炮弹、导弹、反坦克火箭和其他致命武器”。

自二战后朝鲜成立以来，平壤和莫斯科一直是盟友，自俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰以来，两国关系更加紧密。

上周，乌克兰总统泽连斯基提到情报报告称朝鲜正在培训1万名士兵支援俄罗斯对抗基辅，并称莫斯科依赖朝鲜弥补其重大损失。

乌克兰媒体本月早些时候报道说，六名朝鲜军官在乌克兰对俄罗斯占领领土附近的顿涅茨克发生的导弹袭击中丧生 - 这位韩国国防部长当时表示“很有可能”是真的。

作为世界十大武器出口国之一，韩国长期以来一直抵制其盟友（包括华盛顿）要求向基辅提供武器 - 指出长期立场是禁止首尔向活跃冲突地区出售武器。

但是，首尔已向基辅的主要盟友波兰出售了价值数十亿美元的坦克、榴弹炮、攻击飞机和火箭发射器，波兰总统安崾示将于本周二开始访问首尔。

A man walks past a newspaper displayed on a street in Seoul with coverage on North Korea's decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Russia - Copyright AFP Anthony WALLACE

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador Monday to criticize Pyongyang's decision to send thousands of soldiers to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said, calling for their immediate withdrawal.

About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia acclimatizing and likely to head to the front lines soon, Seoul's spy agency said Friday, with additional troops set to depart soon, Pyongyang's first such deployment overseas.

South Korea has long claimed the nuclear-armed North is supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, and Seoul expressed alarm over the troop deployment, which comes after Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a military deal in June.

Seoul expressed its "grave concerns regarding North Korea's recent dispatch of troops to Russia and strongly urged the immediate withdrawal of North Korean forces", vice foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun told Russian ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev.

Seoul's spy agency released detailed satellite images showing the first batch of 1,500 North Korean special forces from the elite "Storm Corps" had arrived in Vladivostok on Russian military vessels.

The move "poses a significant security threat not only to South Korea but to the international community", Kim said.

Both North Korea and Russia are under rafts of UN sanctions — Kim Jong Un for his weapons program, and Moscow for the war in Ukraine.

The two countries' military cooperation violated Security Council resolutions, Kim Hong-kyun said.

Russian ambassador Zinovyev "stressed that cooperation between Russia and North Korea... is not directed against the interests of South Korea's security", the embassy said in a statement.

NATO, which has not yet confirmed the North Korean troop deployments, said that it "would mark a significant escalation" in the conflict, chief Mark Rutte said Monday on X.

- North Koreans in Ukraine? -

"South Korea's protest to Russia will not change anything regarding Moscow's military cooperation with the North," said Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean peninsula strategy at Sejong Institute.

In return for sending soldiers to help Russia in Ukraine, "Kim Jong Un is aiming to acquire military technologies, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines," he said.

The North Korean soldiers will likely soon be on Ukraine's frontlines, he said, adding "it remains to be seen how much impact they will have in the course of the conflict".

Seoul's spy agency said that between October 8 and 13, "North Korea transported its special forces to Russia via a Russian Navy transport ship, confirming the start of North Korea's military participation" in Moscow's war in Ukraine.

The special forces now stationed in Russian bases in the Far East "are expected to be deployed to the front lines (of the Ukraine conflict) as soon as they complete acclimatization training", according to the NIS.

The NIS also said Friday that the North had "provided Russia with more than 13,000 containers' worth of artillery shells, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons" since last August.

Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea's founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flagged intelligence reports saying North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its fight against Kyiv, and said Moscow was relying on the North to make up for its substantial losses.

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk — which South Korea's defense minister said at the time was "highly likely" to be true.

South Korea, one of the world's top ten weapons exporters, has long resisted calls from its allies including Washington to supply Kyiv with weapons — pointing to long-standing domestic policy which bars Seoul from selling weapons into active conflict zones.

It has however sold billions of dollars of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft, and rocket launchers to Kyiv's key ally Poland, and Polish President Andrzej Duda is set to visit Seoul from Tuesday this week.