During an interview with the American network CBS, the White House's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that he does not know "for sure," speculating that Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably hasn't decided exactly what he's going to do for North Korea."
But he believed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "expects that he's going to get something significant, probably in the form of military and technology support from Russia."
"I can't say exactly what will happen but we have already heard the Russians come out and say that North Korea's nuclear program should be looked at differently today than it was five or 10 years ago," he added.
The remarks came on the same day that Ukrainian forces revealed wiretapped voice recordings containing alleged military communications in North Korean dialects, which are assumed to have been exchanged by North Korean soldiers.
Amid mounting evidence suggesting that about 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, multiple Ukrainian officials claimed that Russia has assembled a force of around 50,000 soldiers including North Koreans to reclaim its Kursk territory, currently occupied by Ukraine.
They anticipated that "a counteroffensive in western Russia" involving these North Korean troops is imminent.
According to the U.S. daily The New York Times, it is likely to begin "in the coming days as North Korea's troops train with Russian forces."
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