Pentagon issues North Korea warning as 10,000 troops set to join Russia’s war in coming weeks

The thousands of young soldiers North Korea has sent to Russia, reportedly to help fight against Ukraine, are mostly elite special forces, but that hasn’t stopped speculation they’ll be slaughtered because they have no combat experience, no familiarity with the terrain and will likely be dropped onto the most ferocious Russian-Ukraine battlefields

Austin was speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon with the South Korean defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s deployment of as many as 11,000 troops to Russia.

South Korea is considering dispatching a team of military monitors to Ukraine following reports of North Korean troop deployments to Russia.

Concern has grown in Kiev and the West over North Korea's military cooperation with Russia, with neither the Kremlin nor Pyongyang denying that the reclusive country's troops were in Russia.