South Korea's spy agency claim North Korea is sending more troops to Russia

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol has warned his government 'won't sit idle' after North Korea sends 12,000 troops to back Russia's war in Ukraine

South Korean commanders are thrashing out plans to deploy “military advisers” to Ukraine in the wake of troops from the North arriving in Russia to make ready for war.

Pyongyang is believed to have already sent around 3,000 North Korea troops to Russia for training before being sent into battle against Ukrainian forces. But it is suspected that North Korea has agreed to send 12,000 troops to back Russia’s war in Ukraine by the end of the year.

The Mirror also understands North Korea is expected to send fighter pilots to Russia to make ready to fly warplanes against Kyiv’s forces as the conflict rages in the east. It is believed they will train to fly Russia’s subsonic Su-25 Frogfoot attack jets, which is said to be its most “bulletproof” warplane after losing more than 300 planes in the war.

Kyiv's intelligence directorate believes Russia has lost 650,640 troops in the war, now in its third year. The escalation comes as South Korea's president warns his government "won't sit idle" as North Korea sends troops to support Russia's war on Ukraine.

South Korea's spy agency has claimed North Korea is sending more troops to Russia by the end of the year. Seoul’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said during a meeting with Polish officials: "We agreed that North Korea's troop deployment to Russia, which is in direct violation of the U.N. charter and U.N. Security Council resolutions, is a provocation that threatens global security.”

He added that South Korea will work with allies and partners to prepare countermeasures that could be rolled out in stages. Yoon's office said South Korea is considering supplying Ukraine with both defensive and offensive weapons systems.

A South Korean source revealed: “Any response to a North Korea deployment to the war in Ukraine will be dealt in phases.” South Korea, a growing arms exporter, has provided humanitarian aid and other non-lethal support to Ukraine and supported U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow.

It is also bolstering a shortfall in artillery to the US, although it has insisted the end user must be the Pentagon. The supplies have enabled America to supply Ukrainian forces with weapons.

So far Seoul has not directly provided Ukraine with arms, citing a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened since 2022 after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his nuclear weapons and missile program. Technically the two Koreas are still at war never having signed a ceasefire deal since their conflict in the 1950s.

A western security source told the Daily Mirror: “It is possible technical advisers from North Korea are already in Russia and Ukraine, aiding Moscow’s efforts there. Intelligence agencies will be watching carefully to assess the capability of North Korea’s military, which has not been deployed in open conflict for many decades. This will be seen as an escalation but also an opportunity to see how Pyongyang’s military has developed in the past 70 years.”