US envoy warns North Korean soldiers will face heavy casualties If deployed in Ukraine

The US envoy to the United Nations Robert Wood has issued a stark warning that North Korean soldiers will return in "body bags" if they engage in combat in Ukraine to support Russia.

The deputy US ambassador to the UN, Wood, delivered this message during a Security Council meeting, urging North Korea to reconsider its involvement in the conflict, Caliber.Az reports per Korean media.

Wood's comments came in response to accusations from North Korea's UN envoy, Kim Song, who blamed the US, South Korea, and their allies for destabilizing global peace. Washington and Seoul have reported that North Korea has dispatched thousands of soldiers to eastern Russia, although neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has confirmed this.

The Pentagon believes that North Korean troops have already begun arriving in western Russia and that around 10,000 are training in the east, potentially to bolster Russian forces near Ukraine in the coming weeks. Despite this, Kim defended North Korea's military relationship with Russia as lawful, suggesting that the North would respond to threats against Russian sovereignty.

South Korea's UN ambassador, Hwang Joon-kook, sharply criticized North Korea’s troop deployment, labelling the soldiers as "cannon fodder" and asserting that their wages would ultimately benefit Kim Jong-un. He lamented that these young soldiers could have led better lives if they had been born south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

Hwang emphasized that North Korea's actions violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions and warned that their military support for Russia could shift geopolitical dynamics across Eurasia. He assured that South Korea, in cooperation with the international community, would respond firmly to any unlawful military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, taking appropriate measures as developments unfold.

By Vafa Guliyeva