South Korea, the United States and eight other countries have expressed “grave concerns” about the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, saying Pyongyang’s direct support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine would be a “dangerous” expansion of the conflict.

The top diplomats of ten countries and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy issued a joint statement to that effect on Wednesday. 

The foreign ministers said several thousand North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and that the North’s direct support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, besides showing Russia’s desperate efforts to compensate for its losses, would mark a dangerous expansion of the conflict.

They also condemned in the “strongest possible terms” the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying that North Korean soldiers receiving or providing any training or other assistance related to the use of ballistic missiles or arms is a direct violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2270. 

Expressing “deep concern” about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missile technology from Russia to North Korea, the top diplomats urged the North to stop assisting Russia.