By Diplomacy Journal Lee Jon-young

President Yoon Suk-yeol spoke by phone on Oct. 21 at the request of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte to share information on the deployment of North Korean combatants to Russia and discuss ways forward.

In the calls, the President congratulated Secretary General Rutte on his inauguration (Oct. 1) and said he looks forward to working closely with him to ensure that South Korea and NATO can jointly contribute to security in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic.

The President explained that North Korea has gone beyond providing large-scale weapons of mass destruction to Russia to sending elite troops, noting that our intelligence community recently confirmed that more than 1,500 North Korean special forces have been deployed to Russia and are undergoing adaptive training.

The President said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine and North Korea's reckless military escalation demonstrate once again that the security of the Asia-Pacific and Atlantic regions are inextricably intertwined, fundamentally disrupting the norm-based international order and threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.

The President said the Korean government will continue to closely monitor developments in Russia and North Korea and will actively take steps in response to developments in Russo-North Korean military cooperation, and we look forward to working with NATO and NATO member states on practical countermeasures.

Secretary General Rutte expressed grave concern about North Korea's deployment to Russia, which is in direct violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and stressed that NATO stands ready to actively cooperate with the Republic of Korea to counter this military cooperation that threatens international peace and security. 

He also requested that the Republic of Korea send a delegation to NATO to share more detailed information, and expressed his hope to strengthen defense cooperation and security dialogue between the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, and NATO to address North Korea's deployment to Russia in the future.

In response, the President said he would promptly dispatch a delegation to share information and take steps to revitalize security cooperation between South Korea, Ukraine, and NATO. 

In response to the President's hope that our accession to NATO's Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System (BICES) will be expedited so that we and NATO can communicate in real time and share information securely and efficiently, Secretary General Rutte said that he will work to ensure that progress is made at a rapid pace.

The two sides agreed to closely monitor trends in illicit cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including possible transfers of sensitive Russia’s technologies, and consider effective joint responses to them.