North Korean troops 'gun down their own Russian comrades'

North Korean troops sent to aid Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine gunned down their own Russian comrades after shooting in the wrong direction, a captured Russian soldier has claimed.

Video purportedly shows the Russian soldier recalling his experience in the Kursk region with Putin's newest recruits. 

The unnamed soldier says his unit was in a forest with ten North Korean soldiers after having been sent to dig out trenches when they were caught in a crossfire.

'During the assault, the Koreans started firing at us', he explained. 

'We tried to explain to them where to aim, but I think they shot two of our own'.

'I decided it was better to surrender in this situation that to be killed by our own bullet', the soldier said. 

The apparent episode of friendly fire is the latest in a series of frontline humiliations for Putin and his blundering forces.

It comes after North Korea's foreign minister vowed last week that it would stand by Russia until its victory in Ukraine during a visit to Moscow. 

Choe Son Hui's visit to Russia came amid reports that up to 10,000 North Korean troops could be training in Russia and on the brink of entering the more than two-year conflict on Russia's side. 

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Video 'shows North Korean troops in Russia' as Kim Jong Un sends 12,000 soldiers

US intelligence said last week that some North Korean troops had already made their way to the Kursk border region, with Washington and Seoul warning North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to withdraw his army. 

Russia's lower parliament meanwhile unanimously ratified a defence treaty with North Korea that was struck between Putin and Kim  during the Russian president's state visit to the North Korean capital in June.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's intelligence services released audio last week of that they claimed to be Russian troops complaining about the arrival of North Korean fighters.

In one recording, a pair of soldiers can be heard bellyaching about the so-called 'K battalion', referring to them as 'f***ing Chinese' and declaring one of his fellow servicemen had said 'who knows what the f*** we're supposed to do with them'.

Another clip obtained by Ukraine's Defence Intelligence (GUR) appeared to expose the lack of communication and planning regarding the North Korean troops' integration with their Russian counterparts.

'He was just talking about the K battalion, I say: ''And who is getting the weapons and ammunition for them? We got rations, and as far as I heard those are for the brigade'',' one Russian soldier moaned.

'He was like ''What f***ing brigade? You're getting everything.'' I just said that I understood everything and went out for a smoke.'

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called the deployment a 'provocation that threatens global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe'.

Yoon also said South Korea will 'review' its stance on providing weapons to Ukraine in its war with Russia, which the country has long resisted.

Seoul has already sold billions of dollars of tanks, howitzers, attack aircraft and rocket launchers to Poland, a key ally of Kyiv.