Commenting on the presence of North Korean troops in Russia to support the war against Ukraine, President Yoon Suk Yeol says their actual deployment to the front lines could happen “sooner than expected.”

The presidential office in Seoul said Yoon held telephone talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday and shared his assessment of the current situation.

While sharing information with the European Commission chief, Yoon said his government will take corresponding measures in phases in response to the military collaboration between Russia and North Korea. 

While urging North Korea to immediately withdraw its troops, Yoon argued that the military cooperation between the two countries fundamentally undermines the rules-based international order and threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.

The South Korean president said last week that his government might consider providing deadly weapons to Kyiv.

Seoul has so far limited its direct assistance to Ukraine to nonlethal aid such as ambulances and land-mine clearance equipment, while it has indirectly provided 155-millimeter artillery shells through the U.S.