“This is not at the margins of the military balance in the battle space in Ukraine. It is significant,” Rudd said. “I would think Beijing would be looking with some concern at the speed, breadth and depth of the unfolding geopolitical and direct military relationship between Russia and the DPRK.”
“It does not lie exclusively within China’s purchase, but because of China’s long-standing supply of resources, including oil to the north, China is not without leverage.”
Ukrainian officials have said that overall, more than 12,000 North Koreans had arrived in the far east of Russia ahead of their deployment, although other countries have differed on the size of Pyongyang’s force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang in June.Credit: AP
Earlier, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was “seeing evidence that there are North Korean troops that have gone to Russia”.
The Biden administration has yet to say how it plans to respond to their potential employment in combat against Ukrainian forces.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was still unclear whether the soldiers would enter into combat alongside the Russian military.
Should North Korean soldiers enter into combat, it would be an “unprecedented level of military co-operation” between Russia and North Korea with significant security implications in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, Kirby said.
Shirley Martey Hargis, at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said Beijing was “never distant from relations between Russia and North Korea”.
She said while Beijing and Moscow presented a “no limits” partnership, in practice “this partnership is more about strategic convenience than genuine camaraderie, with China holding significant leverage over Russia, often treating it as a little brother”.
“Russia’s growing ties with North Korea are a hedge against China’s dominance,” she said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said news about North Korea’s contribution to Russia’s war in Ukraine was “deeply troubling”.
Loading
Speaking from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa on Thursday, Wong said Australia stood with the international community against Russia and North Korea’s involvement in the war.
“This is deeply concerning development to see not only Russia continue its illegal and immoral war, but to see a state such as North Korea be invited by President Putin, encouraged by President Putin to join or to support this illegal war,” Wong said.
