South Korea Detects Signs Of North Korea Preparing For Additional Troops And Drones For Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while inspecting the training center for special forces. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - The South Korean military on Monday detected signs North Korea was preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

"The self-suicide drone is one of the tasks Kim Jong-un focuses on," a Seoul Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said, adding Pyonyang had expressed his intention to give it to Russia.

North Korea had previously provided 240mm double rocket launchers and a 170mm self-propelled howitzer, seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be delivered to Russia after leader Kim Jong-un guided last month's test, according to JCS.

Suicide drones are widely used in the Ukraine war. Meanwhile, Leader Kim ordered mass production of the air weapons as well as reforms to military theory and education, citing rising global competition, according to state media.

Previously, Seoul, Washington and Kyiv said there were about 12,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia.

Meanwhile, JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or injured, in line with last week's briefing by South Korean spy agencies that reported about 100 people were killed, and another 1,000 injured in the Kursk region.

Pyongyang's increasingly close military relations with Moscow could pose a greater threat to Seoul, as the country modernizes its conventional forces deemed lower than South Korea, and acquires combat experience, the official said.

Along Korea's heavily fortified borders, North Korea has sent up to 10,000 troops to turn the area into deserts, install barriers and barbed wire in recent weeks, although the numbers have fallen to several hundred over the weekend, the JCS said.

JCS released photos that it said showed a group of North Korean soldiers testing an electrified wire fence using a goat.

"There is also the possibility that North Korea will test a medium-range hypersonic missile around the end of the year ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, while sending more trash balloons to South Korea," he added.

"With Russian support, they will likely try to carry out various strategic provocations next year, such as launching intercontinental ballistic missiles and conducting nuclear tests to increase their bargaining power with the US," the official said.