Thousands of North Korean laborers are already toiling in Russia. A new contingent is headed to the region where North Korean troops fought Ukraine.

North Korea will send thousands of military builders and deminers to help reconstruction efforts in Russia’s Kursk region, an area Ukraine successfully invaded and remained entrenched in for months, Russian media has reported, a further sign of the deepening military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Russian state media has reported that a top Russian security official traveled to Pyongyang for the second time this month for another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the latest display