Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers could gain valuable battlefield experience in the coming year if they deploy to the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to Kiev’s top diplomat in Seoul.

Dmytro Ponomarenko told the Chosen weekly newspaper that South Korea should respond by lifting the embargo on arms supplies to Ukraine. He also called on the West to allow long-range attacks on Russian territory – a long-standing wish of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.

Ponomarenko’s comments, published on Sunday, came shortly before the United States reportedly authorized Ukrainian forces to launch US-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles at targets in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, bordering Russia’s northeastern Sumy region Ukraine.

Russia’s Kursk region in the Far East has been partially captured by Ukraine in a surprise attack since August. According to Western intelligence assessments, thousands of North Korean troops have been sent here to fight alongside the Russian military.

The US State Department confirmed last week that North Korean forces had begun combat operations against Ukrainian forces. Earlier this month, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Pyongyang’s direct military involvement would make North Korean soldiers “legitimate military targets.”

In a separate interview with Voice of America’s Korean Service, the Ukrainian diplomat said on Saturday that the number of North Korean troops in Kursk could rise from the current estimate of 11,000 to 15,000. According to Ponomarenko, a similar number could be deployed in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

In Kursk, North Korea has established a command and control hub led by seven generals, Ponomarenko said. Ukraine believes Pyongyang’s rotational deployment could turn some 100,000 North Korean soldiers into battle-hardened veterans.

North Korean forces with experience in “modern warfare” would pose a threat to security on the Korean Peninsula, he said. “Our security is interconnected.”

The Korean People’s Army commanded by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a standing military force of 1.3 million, only smaller than the active forces of China and the US – 2 million and 1.4 million respectively.

In September, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to expand Russia’s armed forces to 1.5 million active soldiers. If the order is fully implemented, the Kremlin could wield the second largest military power in the world.

The war between Russia and Ukraine, now in its third winter, has become a “global conflict” due to North Korea’s participation, Ponomarenko told the newspaper. Chosen weekly.

In exchange for sending elite special operations forces, Kim is likely to receive Russian money and technical assistance to develop key military technologies, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, the official said.

The North Korean embassy in Beijing and the Russian Foreign Ministry did not return multiple requests for comment.