Seoul, Apr 28 (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korean troops for fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region, after North Korea on Monday confirmed the deployment for the first time.

In a statement Monday from the Kremlin, Putin hailed the heroism and dedication of the North Korean fighters, who he said “shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended our Motherland as their own.” Russia on Saturday said its troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last year. Ukrainian officials denied the claim.

US, South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials have said North Korea dispatched 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia last fall in its first participation in a major armed conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But North Korea hadn't confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send the combat troops to Russia under a mutual defence treaty he and Putin signed in June 2024, the North's Central Military Commission said in a statement carried by state media. The treaty — considered the two countries' biggest defense agreement since the end of the Cold War — requires both nations to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

The statement cited Kim as saying the deployment was meant to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces.” “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honor of the motherland,” Kim said.

Kim said that a monument will soon be erected in Pyongyang to mark North Korea's battle feats and that flowers will be laid before the tombstones of the fallen soldiers. Kim said the government must take steps to preferentially treat and take care of the families of the soldiers who took part in the war.

The North Korean statement didn't say how many troops North Korea eventually sent and how many of them had died. But in March, South Korea's military said that around 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in the Russia-Ukraine war fronts. the South Korean military also assessed at the time that North Korea sent about 3,000 additional troops to Russia earlier this year.

North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they've become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields due to their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain. Still, Ukrainian military and intelligence officials have assessed that the North Koreans gained crucial battlefield experience and have been key to Russia's strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk.

South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday urged North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia immediately, saying the North's support of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine poses a grave provocation to international security. Spokesperson Koo Byoungsam also called the North's troops' deployment “an act against humanity” that has sacrificed young North Korean soldiers for their government.

In a Kremlin meeting Saturday, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff for Russia's armed forces, informed Putin of Russia's regaining of the Kursk region. Gerasimov also confirmed that North Korean soldiers fought alongside Russia to repel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region and “demonstrated high professionalism, showed fortitude, courage and heroism in battle.” Ukraine's General Staff countered that its defensive operation in certain areas in Kursk was continuing.

If confirmed, Russia's victory in Kursk would deprive Ukraine of key leverage in US-brokered efforts to negotiate an end to the more than 3-year-old war by exchanging its gains for some of Russia-occupied land in Ukraine.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Vatican City on the sidelines of funeral of Pope Francis to discuss a potential ceasefire deal. Shortly after arriving in Rome on Friday, Trump said on social media that Ukraine and Russia should meet for “very high-level talks” on ending the war. But less than 24 hours later, Trump said he doubted Putin's willingness to end the war.

North Korea has been supplying a vast amount of conventional weapons to Russia as well. South Korea, the US and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons programme. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia as well. (AP) AMS