Western diplomatic sources in Moscow told NHK in mid-December that the idea to send North Korean troops to Russia originated in Pyongyang, not Moscow.

North Korea has supplied Russia with thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine, intelligence officials said, but old footage that has resurfaced on social media does not show the funeral of a general deployed by Pyongyang to lead its troops in the ongoing invasion.

Despite the relatively high casualty rate, Zelensky added that North Korea might send even more resources to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s armies.

South Korea's military has said that North Korea is preparing to continue aiding Russia in its war with Ukraine, despite casualties.

South Korea warns of North Korea’s preparations to supply more troops and drones to aid Russia in the Ukraine war.

"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 casualties," the JCS said in a statement.

The Russian army went to war in Ukraine in February 2022 with around 2,000 tracked howitzers. In 34 months of brutal combat, the army has lost no fewer than 800 of these self-propelled artillery pieces to Ukrainian action. Hundreds more have been sidelined by a shortage of fresh gun barrels.

After two years of intense courtship, progressing from warm words to vital weapons, summits in Pyongyang to 11,000 soldiers on the ground in Russia, the burgeoning relationship between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un was signed in blood this week when the first stories emerged of North Korean casualties on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) units of the Russian Armed Forces provide support and escort for North Korean assault groups operating in the Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said there have been more than 3,000 North Korean casualties in Russia's Kursk region.

North Korea’s elite troops have faced severe losses in Russia's war with Ukraine, with South Korean intelligence reporting more than 1,100 killed or injured in recent weeks and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy estimating the toll at more than 3,