(Reuters) - NATO members said on Friday that the deployment of North Korean troops is a "dangerous expansion" of the country's support for Russia's war against Ukraine.
In a joint statement, the military alliance's 32 member countries warned that "the deepening military cooperation" between Russia and North Korea "deeply impacts Euro-Atlantic security, with implications also for the Indo-Pacific".
Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Ukraine also supported the NATO statement.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in late October that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday following a meeting with Rutte that "a more decisive response from Western countries to North Korea’s new role in the Russia-Ukraine war is needed".
(This story has been refiled to add the NATO Secretary General's last name 'Rutte' in paragraph 4)