Russia's President Vladimir Putin met with a senior North Korean official in Moscow earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media said.

The meeting occurred on the same day that South Korea's spy agency said the North had dispatched more troops to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine, without disclosing how many.

Seoul's intelligence also said North Korea had redeployed its soldiers to the front line in Kursk, where Ukraine previously said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.

Ri Hi Yong, a member of North Korea's Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, met with Putin in the Kremlin, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

During the meeting, Putin thanked North Korea for "its positive support to the Russian Federation", it said.

The Kremlin confirmed the meeting in a statement.

Military cooperation

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has officially acknowledged that North Koreans have been deployed to fight against Ukraine.

The two countries have boosted their military cooperation since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022.

European leaders threw their support behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday after a televised spat at the White House between the Ukrainian leader and United States President Donald Trump cast doubts over efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.