SEOUL, Oct 30 (Reuters) - South Korea is considering sending a team of military monitors to Ukraine to observe and analyse the expected deployment of North Korean troops by Russia on the frontlines of the conflict there, a presidential official said on Wednesday.

At least 11,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and more than 3,000 of them have been moved close to frontlines, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Pyongyang would learn valuable lessons from its troops engaging in combat and witnessing modern warfare by helping Russia, and that constituted a direct military threat to South Korea, the official said, adding:

"So it is incumbent upon us to analyse and monitor the activities of North Korean troops against our ally, Ukraine."
Ukraine's allies have widely condemned the deployment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's top security aide Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea last week and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is visiting Moscow this week to discuss how to respond to the criticism, the South Korean official said.

On Tuesday, Washington said some North Korean soldiers were in the Kursk region, a Russian border area where Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion in August and hold hundreds of square kilometres of territory.

Russia is putting pressure on Ukrainian forces along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line inside Ukraine after failing to topple the government with its all-out invasion of 2022. Total military casualties are estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Photo from Reuters