South Korea’s military said Friday it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war suffered heavy casualties. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also assessed in a report distributed to journalists that North Korea is continuing its

Budanov said North Korea has sent 120 self-propelled howitzers and 120 MLRS to Russia, and is likely to send the same number again.

North Korea may be accelerating plans to send more troops to replace frontline casualties incurred fighting Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

It will mostly be missile and artillery troops who typically operate hundreds of tubed and rocket artillery systems as well as the KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles Pyongyang has already provided Moscow,

North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) met over two days this week and reported on its achievements during 2024 but state media made no mention of anticipated changes to the constitution that would further cement its hostile policy towards South Korea.

North Korea's disguised rocket launchers. North Korea has sent rocket launchers disguised as civilian trucks to Russia to support the combined Russian-North Korean force battling an incursion by Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian forces described a different kind of enemy, fighting with unfamiliar tactics and little option to retreat.

The attack came as South Korea’s military said North Korea is preparing to send more troops to join Russia’s fight against Ukraine, despite Pyongyang suffering a high rate of losses among its existing deployment of 11,000 and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, the United Nations Security Council learned last week.

Pyongyang's monthly troop losses could skyrocket if it deploys more troops to the frontlines in Kursk and continues sustaining high losses.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.