South Korea's military said on Monday it has detected signs of North Korea preparing to send more troops and weapons, including suicide drones, to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Pyongyang has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers to Russia, and was seen preparing to produce more suicide drones to be shipped there after leader Kim Jong Un guided a test last month, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). "Suicide drones are one of the tasks that Kim Jong Un has focused on," a JCS official said, adding that the North had expressed its intention to give them to Russia. Such drones have been widely used in the Ukraine war, and Kim ordered a mass production of the aerial weapons and an update of military theory and education, citing intensifying global competition, state media reported. Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are around 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, in line with last week's briefing by South Korea's spy agency which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region.