North Korea has ramped up its rhetoric, but stopped short of provoking a fight. Pyongyang, buoyed by ties with Moscow, remains wary of its military inferiority to South Korea, the US and Japan.

On the one hand, the deployment of the North Korean troops seems a logical follow-up to the mutual defense treaty signed by Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang in June. On the other hand, it raises a series of important questions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russia's natural resources minister Alexander Kozlov on Monday, state media KCNA reported, in the latest sign of growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. During the meeting,

"The scale of deployed North Korean troops is being closely watched," Yoon Yeocheol, South Korea's ambassador to the U.K., told Newsweek.

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.

By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the country's military to improve capabilities for fighting a war in a speech last week, state media KCNA said on Monday, after Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to Russia.

The decision by Biden to approve the use of long-range missiles inside Russia could mark a turning point in the conflict

North Korea could deploy up to 100,000 troops to Ukraine despite warnings from G20 nations. As the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow has strengthened in recent months, Kim Jong Un may send even more troops to support Russian forces that have been fighting for nearly three years.