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.
South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said that more than 10,000 soldiers from the reclusive state were sent to Russia last year to help it fight a shock Ukrainian offensive into the Kursk border region.
Earlier this month, Seoul said North Korean soldiers previously fighting alongside Russia's army on the Kursk frontline had not been engaged in combat since mid-January.
Ukraine also said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
On Thursday, an official from Seoul's National Intelligence Agency said they had been "redeployed" there.
That came alongside "some additional troop deployments appearing to have taken place," the official added.
"The exact scale is still being assessed," the official said.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the deployment.
But the two countries signed an agreement, including a mutual defence clause, when Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to the nuclear-armed North last year.
'BRUTAL' FIGHTING
Ukraine has previously said it captured or killed several North Korean soldiers in Kursk.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has also released footage of interrogations with what he said were North Korean prisoners captured by the Ukrainian army there.
And this month, Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper published an interview with a North Korean soldier describing "brutal" fighting on the frontline.
The soldier, who was visibly wounded, told the paper that many of his fellow North Korean soldiers had been killed by drones and artillery fire.
"Everyone who joined the army with me is dead," he said.
Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened political, military and cultural ties since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a New Year's letter, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed Putin and made a possible reference to the war in Ukraine.
He said 2025 would be the year "when the Russian army and people defeat neo-Nazism and achieve a great victory".
On Wednesday, North Korean state media reported Kim had visited a major military academy, urging troops to harness the "actual experiences of modern warfare".
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
