North Korea speaks out about information about sending 11,000 troops to support Russia in Ukraine

North Korea on October 21 denied "groundless speculation" from South Korea and Ukraine that Pyongyang sent troops to fight alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine, and asserted that its relations with Moscow are "legitimate and cooperative," Yonhap reported.

It was the first public comment from a North Korean official since South Korea's spy agency said last week that North Korea had decided to send about 12,000 troops to fight Russia's war in Ukraine, and had dispatched 1,500 troops to Vladivostok for adaptation training.

Speaking at a meeting of the UN General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, a North Korean representative to the UN stressed: "Regarding the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel the need to comment on the baseless stereotypes aimed at tarnishing the image of the DPRK and undermining the cooperative, friendly and legitimate relations between the two sovereign states."

His comments were in response to accusations by a Ukrainian envoy that Pyongyang plans to soon send 11,000 regular troops to support Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a pro-Russian Telegram account posted a photo showing Russian and North Korean flags side by side on the Ukrainian battlefield, suggesting that Pyongyang may have sent troops to support Russia in its protracted war with Ukraine.

The image, shared on October 21, shows two flags raised together over a mine in Pokrovsk, one of the strongholds on Ukraine's eastern front.

The blogger said the North Korean flag was recently raised on a hill at a mine near the city, one of the suspected sites of a North Korean military garrison.