Six North Korean officers killed on battlefield in Ukra...North Korea-Russia military honeymoon is deepening.

[Anchor]
Six North Korean officers are said to have been killed in Ukraine's Russian-occupied areas.

It appears to have been attacked by a Ukrainian missile during an observation of a Russian military exercise.

The military honeymoon relations between the two countries are deepening as North Korea provides Russia with not only weapons but also troops.

Reporter Kwon Young-hee reports.

[Reporter]
On the 3rd local time, Ukrainian forces attacked the area near Donetsk, which is occupied by Russia, with missiles.

The attack killed 20 people, including six North Korean officers, according to the Ukrainian media 'Kiwu Post'.

It added that more than three North Korean soldiers were injured.

They were dispatched as training instructors and were observing Russian training demonstrations.

Ukrainian intelligence revealed last year that North Korean military personnel, including engineering units, were operating in Russian-occupied areas.

The South Korean government also said in August that it had confirmed that North Korea had already sent more than 500 technical and medical support units to Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine.

North Korea is also providing Russia with a large amount of weapons.

Although the two countries deny it, the remains of North Korean shells marked with Korean letters were found one after another on the battlefield in Ukraine.

[U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken / U.S. Secretary of State (U.N. Security Council meeting on Sept. 24): North Korea has delivered large amounts of weapons and ammunition to Russia, including ballistic missiles, launchers, and millions of shells.]

Russia is trying to expand military and technical cooperation with North Korea by linking it with Western support for Ukraine.

It is a powerful 'anti-Western alliance' along with North Korea, which tested nuclear weapons for the only time this century, and will affect the world.

[Edward Howell / Oxford University Researcher: Russia gets cannons and ammunition, North Korea gets cash and food, but what Kim Jong Un wants most is high-tech satellite, nuclear technology]

The relationship between North Korea and Russia is deepening with geopolitical changes following the war in Ukraine.

And this military honeymoon relationship is expected to continue for a long time beyond the war in Ukraine.

I'm YTN's Kwon Younghee.

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