The thousands of North Korean troops US intelligence say arrived in Russia for training this month have sparked concern they will be deployed to bolster Moscow’s battlefront in Ukraine.

China may have enough influence over both Russia and North Korea to shape their growing alliance.

Kim appears unabashed. Western allies this week revealed that North Korea had sent more than 12,000 troops, disguised as ethnic minorities from Siberia, to fight on Russia’s front lines, a move that analysts say will only heighten Beijing’s concerns over its neighbours’ increasingly cosy military ties.