North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is sending his troops on a mission unlike anything they have done before about 3,000 North Koreans are being trained at three sites in Russia us officials have said with South Korea saying as many as 12,000 North Korean soldiers are headed to Russia to help Vladimir Putin with his war on Ukraine the deployment is the first time that North Koreans could be battle tested since fighting ended more than 70 years ago in the Korean War the deployment gives Kim chance to test his arms and tactics on an adversary that uses weapons similar to what its greatest foe uses in South Korea it also marks a new stage in the cooperation between Kim and Putin which has included pongyang sending millions of rounds of artillery to Moscow to Aid in its war in exchange Russia has provided Aid that’s propped up North Korea’s economy and Technology that’s helped Kim develop his weapons the US and South Korea have said Moscow and pongyang have to denied the allegations