Lee Seongmin has become key to Kyiv’s efforts to understand the soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un to fight for Russia.

Ukrainian troops holding positions in Kursk say the North Koreans have reappeared on the battlefield and become even more formidable foes.

North Korea has sent more soldiers to Russia and re-deployed several to the frontline in Kursk, Seoul's spy agency told AFP on Thursday.

North Korea recently sent some 3,500 additional soldiers to Russia's Far East for field training, a South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday, with the possibility of soon being dispatched to the front lines.

North Korea has deployed a second batch of 1,500 troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, with the soldiers already stationed near the front lines in Russia’s Kursk region, a South Korean lawmaker said on March 5.

North Korea has sent some 3,500 more soldiers to Russia's Far East for training at five military sites there, and there is a possibility of a third wave of the North's troop dispatch to front lines to aid Russia's war against Ukraine,