SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

North Korea ratified a defense treaty with Russia, state media reported Tuesday, formally deepening military cooperation that has seen Pyongyang send thousands of troops to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

SEOUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - North Korea has ratified a mutual defence treaty with Russia signed by the two countries' leaders in June, which calls for each side to come to the other's aid in case of an armed attack, state media KCNA said on Tuesday.

North Korean troops have begun engaging in combat operations alongside Russian forces, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, expressing concern that Russia had turned to North Korea for soldiers to fight in its war with Ukraine.

In this file photo, a news report on North Korea's dispatch of troops to Russia plays on a television in a waiting area at Seoul Station in the capital on Oct. 20, 2024. (Yonhap) NK troops-Russia S. Korea to take 'effective,

South Korea's spy agency said Wednesday that North Korean troops dispatched to Russia are "already engaging in combat operations" against Ukraine. "North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia have moved to the Kursk region over the past two weeks and their deployment to battlefields has been completed,