State media images showed leader Kim Jong Un honoring the flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed helping Russia fight Ukraine, as Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday it saw no signs of further troop deployments yet.

Russian security chief Shoigu recently said that North Korea will send 6,000 personnel to Russia, including 1,000 combat engineers and 5,000 military builders, to assist in mine clearance and reconstruction efforts in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.

South Korea's spy agency says North Korea’s planned dispatch of thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia’s Kursk region will likely take place as early as July or August