Although the precise details of the arrangement have not been made public, there has been considerable media coverage of North Korea’s dispatch of combat troops to Russia to support Vladimir Putin’s offensive in Ukraine.

Human rights groups urge South Korea to offer defection pathways for North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine, amid rising casualties.

"Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 c

South Korea’s spy agency said Friday a wounded North Korean soldier who was captured while fighting for Russia against Ukrainian forces has since died from his injuries, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Despite their elite status, North Korea's "Storm" troops were ill-prepared for the war, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said there have been over 3,000 North Korean casualties in Kursk. South Korea reported over 1,000 casualties last week. Newsweek has not verified either figure. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops in Russia.

In our news wrap Monday, South Korea's acting president ordered an inspection of the entire aviation sector after a plane crash killed 179 people, President Biden announced $2.5 billion in aid to Ukraine,

South Korea's military said on Monday it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

During a five-day plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim called the U.S. “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its invariable state policy.”

As the war in Ukraine drags on toward a fourth year, North Korea is preparing to send Moscow more troops beyond the 12,000 already there, as well as additional weapons, including suicide drones, according to the latest assessment from South Korean intelligence.

A third year of war in Ukraine drags on as the new year and the conflict's February anniversary approach. The war in 2024 saw major shifts on the battlefield and in Western politics.