Seoul [South Korea], February 27 (HBTV): North Korea appears to have deployed additional troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine, South Korea's spy agency said on Thursday, local media reported.

Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) stated in a press note that the number of recently deployed troops is being assessed, according to a report by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The assessment follows a news report that between 1,000 and 3,000 North Korean troops were newly transported to Kursk via Russian cargo ships and military airplanes between January and February this year in the second round of such troop deployment, Yonhap reported.

Seoul's spy agency had earlier assessed that North Korean troops deployed to Russia had been absent from combat in the Kursk region since mid-January, likely due to heavy casualties. The NIS estimated that about 300 were killed and some 2,700 others were injured.

At the beginning of this month, Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Special Operations Forces, told CNN that North Korean troops had not been seen on the battlefront for the past three weeks.

'The presence of DPRK troops has not been observed for about three weeks, and they were probably forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses,' Kindratenko was cited as saying by CNN.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak had also noted similar reports.

About 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, according to Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence reports, which state that around 4,000 of those troops have been killed or injured.

According to CNN, which cited the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington DC-based think tank, Ukraine had made advancements in Kursk as of January 26. However, the Russian military claimed to have recaptured the region.

In November last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation to ratify a bilateral treaty with North Korea, which includes a promise of mutual military assistance if either country is attacked.

Russia and North Korea have stepped up military cooperation since the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv began in February 2022.

(ANI)