Russia covertly transported North Korean troops to remote port in far east during night, claims report – Firstpost

Researchers at a top US think tank have concluded after analysing satellite images that Russia may have covertly transported North Korean troops to one of its secluded ports in the far east in October and November last year.

The findings by the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies corroborate earlier claims made by the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) last year, alleging transfer of North Korean troops to Russia in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, was quoted by CNN as saying, “I don’t think that the Russians or the North Koreans want these transfers caught on camera.”

“The secrecy element is quite remarkable.”

According to the researchers, two Russian naval ships docked at Dunai port, located in a remote part of Russia’s Far East. Russians may have deliberately avoided the nearby Vladivostok port, where civilian footfall is high, to maintain the secrecy of the transfer.

According to the report, the North Korean troops may have boarded the Russian ships at night to avoid detection. However, the Russians remained less careful at the Dunai port. Researchers could spot Russian ship Nikolay Vilkov docked at the port on October 17, along with a large crane. By October 20, the crane had vanished, signalling the completion of the troop transfer.

“This is an isolated place where they can do these exchanges, where people aren’t going to notice… (where) their own citizens, and folks in the intelligence community might not notice,” Lair said.

According to the CNN report, each landing ship is believed to have the capacity to hold several hundred soldiers.

According to claims by Western observers, some 12,000 North Korean troops are believed to have been sent to Russia to aid Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine.

Another claim made by Ukrainian intelligence in January this year hinted at 4,000 injuries or fatalities among these soldiers.

Although both Russia and North Korea have not confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in the combat zone, Kyiv claims to have captured at least of two of them from the front lines. Western media reports earlier said Russia may have deployed the North Koreans in its Kursk region, which remains partially occupied by Ukrainian soldiers following lightning incursion late October last year.

(With inputs from agencies)