SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency said Friday North Korea has sent troops in support Russian war against Ukraine. If confirmed, the move would draw a third country into the war and intensify the standoff between North Korea and the West.

The South Korean announcement came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government has intelligence that 10,000 troops from North Korea are ready to join Russian forces fighting his country.

The National Intelligence Service said in a statement that Russian naval vessels transferred 1,500 North Korean special operations troops to the Russian port city of Vladivostok from Oct. 8 to 13. More North Korean troops are expected to be sent to Russia soon.

The North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia have been given Russian military uniforms, weapons and forged identification documents, NOS said. It said they are currently staying at military bases in Vladivostok and other Russian locations such as Ussuriysk, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk, and are likely to be deployed to battlefields after completing their adaptation training.

The NOS posted on its website satellite and other photos of what it called the movements of Russian naval vessels near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk over the past week.

South Korean media reported, citing NOS, that North Korea has decided to send a total of 12,000 troops, divided into four brigades, to Russia. NOS said it could not confirm the reports.

The NOS has a mixed record of finding developments in North Korea, one of the most secretive countries in the world. If confirmed, this would be North Korea’s first major participation in a foreign war. North Korea has 1.2 million troops and is one of the largest standing militaries in the world, but has not participated in large-scale conflicts since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Asked about the NOS findings, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said: “At this time our official position is that we cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are now active as soldiers involved in the war effort, but they may change.”

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday that the U.S. could not confirm or corroborate media reports about the North Korean troop shipment to Russia.

Russia has previously denied using North Korean troops in the war, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing the claims as “another piece of fake news” at a press conference last week. North Korean state media have not yet commented on the matter.

North Korea and Russia, embroiled in separate confrontations with the West, have greatly increased their cooperation in the past two years. The US, South Korea and their partners have accused North Korea of ​​delivery artillery shells, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia to fuel the war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military aid. In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement pact establishing mutual military assistance if either country is attacked.

Many experts question how much deploying North Korean troops would help Russia, citing North Korea’s outdated equipment and lack of combat experience. They say North Korea has likely received Russian promises to supply it with high-tech weapons technology related to its nuclear and missile programs, a move that could undermine U.S. and South Korean efforts to neutralize North Korea’s nuclear threats. will make it difficult.

“Diplomatically, Pyongyang would sacrifice its relations with European countries in the near future. The quid pro quo in terms of Russian military technology provided to the Kim regime could be significant enough to threaten South Korea’s security,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, believes Russia has likely offered technology transfers related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines and surface-to-air defense systems that could undermine North Korea’s deterrent posture against the U.S. and the South would strengthen. Korean Armed Forces.

Hong said Kim could also see the troop deployment as a crucial opportunity to expose his soldiers to modern weapons technology and warfare and test their combat capabilities.

Earlier Friday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol convened an emergency security meeting to discuss the consequences of the North Korean troop deployment. Meeting participants agreed that North Korea’s troop deployment poses “a serious security threat” to South Korea and the international community, Yoon’s office said.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent years, with Kim significantly increasing the pace provocative missile tests and openly threaten to use nuclear weapons preventively. South Korea and the US have responded by expanding their policies military exercises, which North Korea views as invasion rehearsals.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy warned that a third nation wading into hostilities could turn the conflict into a “world war.”

“We have received information from our intelligence services that North Korea has sent tactical personnel and officers to Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters at NATO headquarters. “They are preparing 10,000 soldiers in their country, but they have not yet moved them to Ukraine or Russia.”

Ukrainian media reported earlier this month that six North Koreans were among those killed after a Ukrainian missile attack in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region on October 3.

Many experts were previously skeptical about possible North Korean troop deployments on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefields, as North Korea is concerned about the nuclear standoff with the US and South Korea.

North Korea sent pilots to fight for North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and for Egypt during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but there is no known large-scale deployment of ground troops abroad.

There are speculations that North Korea likely sent military technicians and engineers to support Russia’s use of North Korean weapons and learn their wartime performance.

Easley, the professor, said: “It would be surprising if Pyongyang deployed thousands of soldiers to fight as hired mercenaries.” But he added that North Korea could have sent construction workers, technicians, engineers and military intelligence officers to Russian-controlled enclaves.

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Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.