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.

U.S. officials, however, say North Korea regularly exceeds these limits, mainly because of a lack of enforcement by China and Russia — North Korea's key allies. Both countries deny those claims but have taken steps to blunt the impact of the sanctions, which they say are no longer necessary.

North Korea's top diplomat criticized a US-led sanctions monitoring team as "unlawful and illegitimate," warning countries involved would face a "dear price."

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.

Kim has issued similar threats to use nuclear weapons preemptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as outside experts say North Korea could ramp up animosities ahead of next month’s U.S. presidential election.

The move came after Russia and China have blocked monitoring activities at the United Nations. In March, Moscow vetoed the annual renewal of the panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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 said a new multilateral sanctions monitoring team led by the US was “unlawful and illegitimate” and warned the participating countries will pay a price, state media reported Sunday.

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

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.