Washington and Seoul have warned of North Korea's close military ties with Moscow. South Korea's spy agency said on Friday that North Korea has shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia's Far East for training and acclimatizing at local military bases and will likely be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine.

The United States, South Korea, Japan and eight other countries formed a new multilateral team to monitor and report on violations of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, the countries said in a joint statement.

North Korea's foreign minister called a newly-created sanctions monitoring team of her country's nuclear weapons programme 'illegal and illegitimate' on Sunday.View on euronews

The United States, South Korea and Japan on Wednesday announced the launch of a new multinational team to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea after Russia and China thwarted monitoring activities at the United Nations.

North Korea's foreign minister said a new multilateral sanctions monitoring team led by the United States was "utterly unlawful and illegitimate", state media said on Sunday. The United States, South

North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Choe Son-hui, sharply criticized the newly formed international group monitoring its nuclear weapons program on Sunday, calling it “illegal and illegitimate.” Choe also warned that nations participating in the group would "pay a high price.

In a bold move, U.S. allies have established a new body to monitor North Korean sanctions violations after Russia, a growing ally of Pyongyang, vetoed efforts at the U.N. Security Council. The new “Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team” (MSMT) was formed by 11 nations,