North Korea UN representative denies Pyongyang sent troops to Russia to fight Ukraine

North Korea has not sent troops to Russia to help Moscow fight Ukraine, one of its United Nations representatives said Monday, dismissing Seoul’s claims as “groundless rumour”.

Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a “large-scale” troop deployment to help its ally, claiming that 1,500 special forces were already training in Russia’s Far East and ready to head soon for the front lines of the Ukraine war.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korea soldiers were being prepared to join invading Russian forces.

“As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel any need for comment on such groundless stereotyped rumours,” a North Korean representative said at a committee meeting during the UN General Assembly.

Seoul’s claims were “aimed at smearing the image of the DPRK and undermining the legitimate, friendly and cooperative relations between two sovereign states,” the representative told the meeting, held late Monday in New York.