US President Joe Biden will voice "deep concern" over North Korea's troop deployment to Russia while meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of this week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru, a senior US administration official said.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the summit is scheduled for Saturday in Lima as Biden and Xi may have their last in-person summit as Presidents.
Earlier, officials from Seoul and Washington confirmed that North Korean troops, deployed in the Russian western front-line Kursk region, have begun to fight against the Ukrainian army.
"I expect the President will express deep concern over China's support for Russia's war against Ukraine as well as the deployment of over 10,000 North Korean troops to Russia, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces," the official said Wednesday at an online press briefing.
We are becoming more and more concerned about the implications for longer-term stability both in Europe and even in the Pacific with this deployment, that official added.
The North Korean troops in question had been stationed to Kursk after training in eastern Russia. The US officials note they have been equipped in Russian uniforms and kit because Russians trained them on artillery, UAV, and basic infantry operations.
According to principal deputy spokesperson for the State Department, Vedant Patel, the North Korean troops have to overcome a gamut of challenges, from interoperability to the language problem and command and control and communications.
It has further become a source of mounting security concerns for the US, South Korea, and others because it underlines a deepening military partnership between Pyongyang and Moscow, which observers say could expand the war in Ukraine and affect security on the Korean Peninsula as well.
There are now calls for Beijing to play a constructive role in dealing with North Korea's troop dispatch in its view to influence Pyongyang.
As part of his first summit with Xi, Biden will take stock of progress in a series of areas that Washington and Beijing have made since their summit in Woodside, California, last year, including the resumption of military-to-military communication and counternarcotics cooperation, the official said.
Biden is also expected to stress the need for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and to convey his concerns regarding the activities of China around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.
"Over the last four years, the two countries have advanced areas of shared interest, and even amidst deep differences and intense competition, (they) worked to do so," the official said.
"Throughout his time in office, President Biden has made clear that it is one of the world's most consequential relationships that must be responsibly managed."
The bilateral meeting will be the third in-person summit between Biden and Xi since Biden became president in January 2021.
The Presidents previously met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali in 2022 and the APEC summit in California in 2023.
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