North Korea has said it will send thousands of troops to help Russia in the war in Ukraine

Seoul, South Korea – South Korean intelligence found that out North Korea sent 12,000 soldiers, including special forces, to support them Russia’s war against Ukrainesaid news reports on Friday, a development that could bring a third country into the war and deepen tensions between North Korea and the West.

The Yonhap news agency mentioned that the National Intelligence Service has already turned its back on the country and formed four brigades. Other South Korean media carried similar reports.

If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first major involvement in a foreign war. North Korea has 1.2 million soldiers, one of the largest armies in the world, but it has no real combat experience.

North Korean soldiers sent to Russia have been stationed at military bases across the country in the Far East and may be “sent to the front lines” in Ukraine after training, the NIS said on Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.

Many experts question how much North Korean military deployments will help Russia, citing North Korea’s outdated equipment and lack of battlefield experience.

Experts also say North Korea is likely to receive Russian promises to provide security assistance to Pyongyang in its escalating conflicts with the US and South Korea over its developing nuclear program.

During a meeting in Pyongyang in JuneNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signed an agreement outlining mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what is considered the largest defense agreement between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

The NIS did not immediately confirm the report, but South Korea’s presidential office said President Yoon Suk Yeol presided over an emergency meeting early Friday to discuss sending North Korean troops to Ukraine. The statement said that the participants in the meeting agreed that sending troops to North Korea is a serious threat to the security of South Korea and the world.

But the presidency did not provide other details such as how many North Korean troops have been sent to Ukraine and what roles they are expected to play.

Russia has denied using North Korean troops in the war, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the allegations as “another fake news” during a news conference last week, according to Russian media.

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Koreans were among those killed after a Ukrainian missile strike hit the eastern part of Donetsk on October 3.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government has intelligence that 10,000 North Korean soldiers are willing to join Russian forces fighting his country, warning that a third country joining the hostilities could turn the conflict into a “world war.”

“In terms of intelligence, we received information that North Korea sent personnel and police to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told reporters at NATO headquarters. “They prepared on their land 10,000 soldiers, but they did not move them to Ukraine or Russia.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the western alliance “has no evidence that the North Korean military is involved in this war. But we know that North Korea is supporting Russia in many ways, supplying weapons, technology, innovation, to support the war effort and that is very worrying.”

The US, South Korea and their allies have accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with artillery shells, missiles and other materials that help fuel its war with Ukraine.

Foreign officials and experts say North Korea in exchange may have received badly needed food and economic aid as well as technical assistance aimed at developing Kim’s nuclear-armed military. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly denied that there is an arms deal between the countries.