South Korea said on Friday it suspects that North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured, UNN reports citing Reuters.
Details
"As four months have passed since the deployment of troops to the Russia-Ukraine war and numerous casualties and prisoners have been reported, it is suspected that (North Korea) is accelerating further measures and preparing for additional troop deployments," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
The JCS analysis does not specify what further measures Pyongyang may take.
North Korea is also preparing to launch a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), although there were no signs of immediate action, JCS said.
According to Ukrainian and Western estimates, Pyongyang has sent about 11,000 soldiers to support Moscow's forces in the Kursk region of Russia. According to Ukrainian data, more than 3 ,000 people were killed or wounded.
Although Moscow and Pyongyang initially denied reports of North Korean troop deployments, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin did not deny in October that North Korean soldiers were in Russia, and a North Korean official said that any such deployment would be legal.