The Radio Free Asia portal has revealed that North Korean soldiers who died in Russia are posthumously being admitted to the Workers' Party of Korea. Families are not informed about the circumstances of their deaths or their participation in the war.

A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

The paratroopers said the already-wounded North Korean ran "headfirst" into a concrete pillar when they tried to load him into a vehicle.

John Kirby, White House national security communications adviser, said of Hegseth's remarks on North Korea's status as a nuclear power: "We've not made such a recognition. I can't speak to what the incoming team will—how they'll characterize it. We've not gone so far as to make that recognition."

"I didn't even know who we were fighting against," the captured soldier from Pyongyang told Ukraine's Security Service.

North Korea is gaining crucial military experience and equipment by sending troops to Russia, a U.S. official warned the United Nations, making the regime a growing threat to neighboring countries.

The United States warned on Wednesday that North Korea is benefiting from its troops fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine, gaining experience that makes Pyongyang "more capable of waging war against its neighbors.

Weapons and notes left on dead North Korean troops in Russia give Ukraine a glimpse into their mindset — and show how they are quickly adapting to modern war.

North Korea defended its right to maintain a nuclear weapons program at a United Nations disarmament conference held shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump referred to the North as a "nuclear power.

North Korea condemned on Friday joint military drills between South Korea, Japan and the United States held this week, threatening to respond by exercising its right to self-defence "more intensively".

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.