South Korea's military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

North Korea is likely preparing to send additional troops to Russia after suffering heavy losses in battles against Ukrainian forces, South Korea's military said Friday.

North Korea’s leader has grown more assertive since their last efforts at diplomacy ended in failure — and now has Russia at his side.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Seoul has previously claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent more than 10,000 soldiers as ‘cannon fodder’ to help Moscow fight Kyiv, in return for Russian technical assistance for Pyongyang’s

South Korea and NATO on Wednesday urged North Korea and Russia to halt their military cooperation. The demand came after Seoul claimed at least 300 North Korean soldiers died while fighting Ukraine on behalf of Russia.

Moscow and Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the ... he declined to elaborate saying it was information from Ukraine shared with South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS). NIS did not answer calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

Ukraine captured two wounded North Korean soldiers who were fighting on behalf of Russia in a Russian border region, South Korea’s intelligence service said.

Budanov said North Korea has sent 120 self-propelled howitzers and 120 MLRS to Russia, and is likely to send the same number again.

South Korea’s military says it suspects North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia after its soldiers already deployed on the Russian-Ukraine war fronts suffered heavy casualties.

The U.S. “will have to out-think” Russia and China to prevent them from using nuclear weapons to resolve a future crisis, the outgoing head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said last week.