The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia was initiated by Pyongyang, not Moscow, according to U.S. officials. The initiative was swiftly approved by Vladimir Putin, as reported by The New York Times,

While some Western officials initially viewed the arrival of North Korean soldiers in Russia as evidence of the Kremlin’s desperation, U.S. agencies now reportedly believe the idea was North Korea’s initiative,

Secretive North Korea has one of the world’s largest militaries, with 1.28 million active soldiers, but unlike in Russia, the Korean People's Army (KPA) has no recent experience of combat. Pyongyang’s army is “thoroughly indoctrinated but with low readiness,” says Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces have published the second part of deciphered notes from the captured notebook of a North Korean soldier killed in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Source: press service for Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SOF) Details: According to the latest update from the Special Operations Forces,

A letter from a North Korean soldier who died while deployed in Russia’s war against Ukraine was released by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces on Christmas Eve. The handwritten note reportedly found on the body of the fallen soldier in Russia’s Kursk region offers a glimpse into the soldier’s emotional state.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has, for the first time, sent combatant units abroad, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine. As noted in the Joint Statement on the DPRK’s Deployment of Troops to Russia this development indelibly connects the Indo-Pacific and European theaters,

Moscow cargo ship with Syria ties sinks as North Korean troop casualties ‘exceed 3,000’ - Zelensky warns of greater military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, including sending more troops and