South Korea’s spy agency said Wednesday that North Korean troops dispatched to Russia have moved to the front-line region of Kursk and are “already engaging in combat” against Ukraine.

The National Intelligence Service(NIS) said North Korean soldiers dispatched to Russia have moved to the Kursk region over the past two weeks and their deployment to battlefields is complete. 

The NIS added that it is gathering and analyzing additional intelligence. 

The remarks came a day after the U.S. State Department confirmed that North Korean troops deployed to Russia’s Kursk region are engaging in combat against Ukraine.

In a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said he could confirm that over ten-thousand North Korean soldiers had been sent to eastern Russia and most had moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they were fighting alongside Russian forces.