Kim Jong-un's burgeoning alliance with Vladimir Putin is being viewed with considerable concern in Western circles.

North Korea may deploy as many as 100,000 troops to aid Russia’s war on Ukraine if the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow continues to deepen, according to people familiar with assessments made by some Group of 20 nations.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in a proxy war between the Korean states as they supply arms for both sides. Now that Kim Jong-un has sent troops to take a direct role in the fighting, South Korea could respond by escalating its own involvement.

North Korea "is getting involved in the war" with Ukraine and is preparing tens of thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, in what would be a widening of the war at a moment when Kyiv and Moscow are looking for new ways to refill their ranks.

During a visit to Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya condemned North Korea's reported troop deployment to Russia, warning of severe cons

Japan’s foreign minister has arrived in Kyiv to discuss North Korea’s deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine

Hyun-Seung Lee, who served in the North Korean army in the 2000s, believes that troops deployed to help Putin's illegal invasion will have been thinking about defection from the beginning