The state intelligence agency forecast North Korea to deploy additional troops to Russia as early as between July and August in support of Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine.

The National Intelligence Service(NIS) shared such information on Thursday as part of its briefing to a National Assembly standing committee, according to representatives on the panel from both sides of the aisle.

Main opposition People Power Party(PPP) Rep. Lee Seong-kweun said the spy agency's forecast was based on Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu's recent visit to the North and the start of a troop selection process inside the regime.

After meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang last week, Shoigu announced that the North had agreed to send six-thousand military engineers and construction workers to Russia's Kursk region.

Shoigu had made a similar deployment deal during a visit to Pyongyang last October, one month before the North sent some eleven-thousand combat troops to Russia.