"Our army and people will invariably support and encourage the just cause of the Russian army," the North Korean leader said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that North Korean soldiers have been “brought in again” to fight at the frontline in the Kursk region after reports that foreign soldiers were withdrawn following their mounting losses.

NORTH Korean troops fighting for Vladimir Putin have retreated from the frontline after nearly half of them were wiped out, a Ukrainian claims. The withdrawal comes as Kyiv eliminated one of

In December last year, over 11,000 North Korean troops had been deployed in Russia's Kursk region to aid Russian forces in foiling Ukrainian counterattacks in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

This is almost certainly primarily due to heavy losses sustained during attacks against Ukrainian-held positions.” Reports differ on the scale of the losses but one put them as high as 4,000 North Korean soldiers killed or wounded.

Ukraine is fighting a war against two nuclear weapons countries: Russia, a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty, and North Korea, which is not. Since 2014, Moscow has been undermining the logic and letter of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) with its nuclear posturing.