South Korean intelligence has found that North Korea has dispatched 12,000 troops including special operation forces to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, news reports said Friday, a development that could bring a third country into the war and intensify a standoff between North Korea and the West.

There are now almost 11,000 North Korean infantry troops training in eastern Russia, to fight in Ukraine, Kyiv's Defense Intelligence Directorate has said. This week has seen multiple reports about Moscow planning to use North Korean soldiers,

North Korea has shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia’s far east for training and will likely be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine, South Korea’s spy agency said.