South Korea’s military intelligence arm said some North Korean troops have probably been deployed to the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war. 

According to lawmakers from both rival political parties on Wednesday, the Defense Intelligence Agency shared its assessment earlier in the day during a closed-door audit by the parliamentary Intelligence Committee.

Although foreign media have reported that North Koreans are already on the front lines, the agency said it has yet to obtain precise information on the matter.

But it says their arrival on the front lines in the Kursk region and other battlegrounds is imminent. 

The military unit assesses that the North may draw attention to its nuclear program in the days leading up to the U.S. presidential election next week, adding that preparations for a test at the Punggye-ri facility appear to be complete.

It said preparations for space launchers and ICBM-class long-range ballistic missiles also seem to be near completion, with a test launch to verify the atmospheric reentry technology likely to occur before or after the November 5 election.