Although the precise details of the arrangement have not been made public, there has been considerable media coverage of North Korea’s dispatch of combat troops to Russia to support Vladimir Putin’s offensive in Ukraine.

Human rights groups urge South Korea to offer defection pathways for North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine, amid rising casualties.

In our news wrap Monday, South Korea's acting president ordered an inspection of the entire aviation sector after a plane crash killed 179 people, President Biden announced $2.5 billion in aid to Ukraine,

North Korea's Kim Jong Un vowed to implement the "toughest" anti-U.S. policy, less than a month before Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president.

"Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties," the JCS said in a statement.

Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) destroyed a Russian aerial target with the Ukrainian-made Magura V5 naval strike drone for the first time, HUR reported on Dec. 31. During a battle in the Black Sea off the Western tip of occupied Crimea,

Despite their elite status, North Korea's "Storm" troops were ill-prepared for the war, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said there have been over 3,000 North Korean casualties in Kursk. South Korea reported over 1,000 casualties last week. Newsweek has not verified either figure. Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow has acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops in Russia.

A handful of the nearly 5,000 Boeing 737-800 aircraft produced have been involved in fatal crashes, but the jet is generally reliable and safe.

North Korean troops supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are conducting ground assaults against Ukrainian forces that have led to “heavy casualties,” a White House spokesman said.