Despite the heavy casualties it has suffered in the war between Russia and Ukraine, North Korea appears to have sent more troops to Russia as its soldiers re-entered frontline combat, South Korea’s spy agency said on Thursday.

       The National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s main spy agency, said it was still trying to assess the size of the new deployment. But its brief statement on Thursday followed a report in a South Korean newspaper, JoongAng, citing anonymous sources, that North Korea has sent up to 3,000 additional troops since January by ship and military cargo planes.

       North Korea sent an estimated 11,000 troops to Russia late last year, and has supplied large shipments of artillery shells, missiles and other conventional weapons. The troops were sent to the Kursk region, where they fought alongside Russian forces to help them regain territory lost to Ukraine.

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