North Korea warned Friday that it would exercise its right to self-defense "more intensively" as it condemned recent joint air drills among South Korea, the United States and Japan.

South Korea's top envoy to the United Nations said Thursday that North Korean troops are being dissipated as "expendables" in Russia's war against Ukraine and treated as a "cynical" means of sustaining the North Korean regime.

North Korean soldiers will participate in Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, marking the first such instance in history, the Japanese broadcaster NHK World reported on Jan. 16, citing undisclosed Russian sources.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, North Korean troops in Ukraine could cease to exist by mid-April. The losses amount to nearly 100 soldiers per day. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that North Korean troops in Ukraine may cease to exist by mid-April.