The Pentagon believes North Korean Forces fighting in the Russian Armed Forces are “fair targets” for an attack on Ukraine.
“Where they are positioned, they are fair targets, and we expect them to engage in combat,” Department of Defense Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Thursday.
On Monday, the Pentagon said about 11,000 North Korean troops had joined Russian forces in the Kursk region.
While Singh could not confirm if they had taken part in combat operations, he said the troops would be considered co-belligerents in the conflict with Ukraine.
“By bringing another foreign country into the battlefield, by bringing more than 11,000 DPRK soldiers into the war, this is an act of escalation,” Singh said.
“We have said very clearly that the introduction of the DPRK army into the war, especially when it comes to the sovereignty of Ukraine, means that they are fair game in that war. And so, they will be considered legitimate military targets,” he added.
Image by Kevin Dietsch/Getty
Singh declined to comment on media reports that a North Korean general was wounded in a recent attack in Russia’s Kursk region, part of a series of attacks carried out by Kyiv using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
The British cabinet office has previously refused to confirm whether the use of long-range missiles for strikes on Russian military targets has been authorized by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but has been directed. Newsweek for statements by people outlining that such attacks will fall on Ukraine’s “clear right to self-defense against illegal Russian attacks.”
The use of Storm Shadow missiles also follows a US decision to allow Ukraine to use the US Army’s Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, for strikes on Russian territory.
First reported on Sunday, the decision was confirmed on Tuesday by Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.
“The weapons that President Biden has given to Ukraine will give him a greater ability to defend himself and I hope the Russian Federation will understand that the use of force to occupy the territory of Ukraine will not be successful and will probably start peace negotiations or, better, just withdraw from Ukrainian territory,” Nichols told the Brazilian outlet O Globo.
However, the move was criticized by the Kremlin as an escalation, with former president Dmitry Medvedev saying it gave Russia the right to “launch a retaliatory attack with weapons of mass destruction against Kyiv and key NATO facilities.”
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the US of “pushing the world into a global conflict,” and said the country now has the “right” to use the latest. Oreshnik missile systems “against the military facilities of countries that permit the use of weapons against our facilities.”
Responding to a question about the escalation of the conflict on Thursday, Singh said: “What is the escalation in this war is the fact that Russia decided to go to a foreign country and bring these DPRK soldiers into the war.”
“We are not seeking war with Russia. That is not our intention,” he added, “but we will absolutely support Ukraine, and this is something that the president has made very clear from day one.”
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