UKRAINE: SK Lawmaker-North Pledges 10k Troops To Russia For Deployment In Dec

Yonhap reporting comments from a South Korean lawmaker citing intel from the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS) claiming that North Korea has shipped 3,000 troops to Russia for deployment in its invasion of Ukraine. Adds that ~10k North Korean troops pledged to Russia by Pyongyang are expected to be deployed around December, and that North Korean troops are being trained to use drones against Ukrainian targets. North Korea's increasing involvement in the war in Ukraine now extends to troop deployments and significant supplies of small arms, ammunition, and artillery to Russia. 

• With an estimated 600k Russian troops deployed in Ukraine, the alleged North Korean deployment is unlikely to make a significant difference in terms of offensive capabilities (it is seen as more likely that North Korean troops would be used in ancillary roles rather than frontline combat). As The Guardian notes, "The NIS believes it has monitored 70 shipments of munitions – shells, missiles and anti-tank rockets – going from North Korea to Russia since August last year, [...] so crucial for Moscow’s destructive frontline assaults. [These] come at a time when the US election means it is unclear if military aid – gifts of weapons – to Ukraine from the world’s remaining superpower will continue."
• NATO Sec Gen Mark Rutte has called on South Korea to provide detailed reports to the alliance on North Korea's supposed actions before it can make a decision on potential responses.