North Korea sent its best troops to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine. But after months of suffering severe losses, they have been taken off the front line.

Captured North Korean soldiers have lifted the curtain ever so slightly on the secretive Kim regime’s decision to join Russia’s war against Ukraine.

North Korea is preparing to send additional troops to Russia, despite their role as “human bait” on the battlefield, a report has warned.

South Korea's military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured.

Facing exhaustion and North Korean troops, these soldiers fighting for Ukraine say the war needs to end. A CBC News team spoke to them before they headed back to the front line, trying to hold territory seized in Russia's Kursk region.

Ukrainian special operations forces have given an insight into the brutal, near-suicidal tactics of the North Koreans they have faced in intense fighting in the Russian border region of Kursk.