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(LEAD) S. Korean delegation briefs EU officials on N. Korea’s troop deployment to Russia


A South Korean government delegation visited the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday to brief officials on North Korea’s deployment of its troops to Russia, an EU official said.

The delegation, comprising high-level intelligence, defense and foreign affairs officials from Seoul, is in the Belgian capital this week to share its assessments and information with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the EU about the North’s troop dispatch for use in Russia’s war against Ukraine. They briefed NATO the previous day.

“The PSC (Political Security Committee) is meeting with South Korean delegation,” Nabila Massrali, EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a press briefingWhile she declined to give further details on the meeting, she said that the planned visit to South Korea by Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, “can be put in the context of what is happening.”

“The EU member states are discussing the situation,” she said. “The continued military suppo
rt by the DPRK to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will be met with an appropriate response.”

DPRK is the acronym for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed the North’s troop deployment during the meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the same day, a press release showed on the EU website.

They “emphasized that the deployment of North Korean soldiers in support of Russia’s war of aggression represented a significant escalation of the war against Ukraine as well as a serious threat to European security and global peace,” the readout said.

Following the briefing Monday, Rutte confirmed that North Korean troops have been deployed to the Kursk region in western Russia, a front-line area in its conflict with Ukraine.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said earlier that Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will hold strategic talks with Borrell next Monday. North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia is expected to
be among the top agenda items.

Source: Yonhap News Agency