Video appears to show North Korean troops being trained inside Russia
A video has emerged online which appears to show North Korean troops being trained inside Russia.
The video was shot through a fence by what sounds like a young Russian man, and Open Source intelligence researchers are said to have geolocated it to Primorsky Krai - an area of eastern Russia that borders North Korea.
The footage shows a large group of soldiers, said to be North Koreans, marching to a training area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told EU and Nato leaders that these troops could eventually be sent to Ukraine.
He said the use of North Korean troops in the conflict would be a first step towards a world war.
South Korean media said the country’s spy agency had evidence Pyongyang had begun sending troops to Russia.
It also said 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers had been sent to Russia's far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases before being deployed for combat in Ukraine.
It said they had been sent aboard four amphibious landing ships to Vladivostok, with a plan of 10,000 personnel being sent to Russia in total.
It also claims North Korean troops have been integrated with Russian units training in the east, being provided with Russian weapons and uniforms, and given fake IDs.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was in contact with South Korea, but needed further confirmation.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said North Korea had shipped more than 13,000 containers of artillery rounds, ballistic missiles and anti-tank rockets to Russia since August last year.
This was calculated based on the remnants of weapons recovered from the battle front in Ukraine.
In all, more than eight million artillery and rocket rounds have been shipped to Russia, it said.
"The direct military cooperation between Russia and North Korea that has been reported by foreign media has now been officially confirmed," the spy agency said.
NIS said it used facial recognition AI to identify with a high degree of accuracy some technical military officers from the North Korean military in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
It said the North Korean troops were supporting Russia's missile offensive and helping with technical glitches.
Since a summit in the Russian far east last year, the North Korean and Russian leaders have dramatically upgraded their military ties.
They met again in June to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership that includes a mutual defence pact.
Russia and North Korea both deny they have engaged in any arms transfers.
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