With 8,000 North Korean troops now poised to join Russia’s fight in Ukraine, the U.S. is reaching out to China to leverage its relationships with Moscow and Pyongyang to “curb” the entry of North Korean forces.
The U.S. had a “robust conversation” with China this week about the North Korean troops’ dispatch to Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a joint news conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts on Thursday.
“I think they know well the concerns that we have and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities,” he said.
What North Korea may receive from Russia in return for the troops “should be a real concern to China,” Blinken added.
More:Chaos as Russia tries to absorb North Korean troops, Ukraine spies say
The New York Times reported that Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Daniel J. Kritenbrink and James O’Brien, the State Department’s top Asia and Europe officials, met with Chinese officials on Tuesday.
Blinken said 8,000 North Korean troops are now in Kursk, the region just over the border inside Russia where Ukrainian troops staged an August incursion. Russia’s military trained them in artillery, drones and trench clearing, he said.
Austin said the troops were given Russian military uniforms and equipment.
More:North Korea missile test records longest-ever flight time
The Pentagon said on Monday that 10,000 troops were on the ground in Russia training at military bases in the country’s far east.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called the move a “dangerous expansion” of the Ukraine war, a “dangerous escalation” in North Korean involvement and a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” he said.
More:US, allies say they have evidence of North Korean troops deployed to Ukraine
China defies U.S. in close relations with Russia, North Korea
China has refused calls from the U.S. to condemn Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, and Russia has increasingly relied on China for trade as U.S. and other sanctions have shut it off from the global economy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to deepen ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin in May, turning a cold shoulder to the U.S. after Blinken flew to Beijing in a diplomatic gesture. And he attended the recent BRICS summit, in Russia last week.
China has also maintained warm ties with North Korea amid its gradual isolation over the years.
Still, North Korea’s regular missile tests sometimes set its northern neighbor on edge. China condemned a North Korean missile test launch in 2017 and voted in favor of several U.N. Security Council resolutions cranking up economic pressure on North Korea the same year, causing tensions to boil between the two countries, according to a Brookings Institution report.
But the countries warmed their relationship in the years since. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid a secret visit to Beijing in 2018, and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to North Korea in 2019 was the first time a Chinese leader visited the country in 14 years.
Now, China makes up more than 90% of North Korea’s trade, and two countries have renewed an alliance treaty that was first signed in 1961.
Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at cmayesosterman@usatoday.com. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.
