North Korea said on Friday that any troop deployment to Russia would comply with international law, state media reported, but did not confirm that it had sent any troops.

“If there is such a thing that the world media talks about, I think it will be an act in accordance with the rules of international law,” said Kim Jong Gyu, vice foreign minister for Russian affairs, according to the ministry. Korean Foreign Affairs. Central News Agency.

Seoul and Washington have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending thousands of troops to Russia, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying they could be sent into combat as early as Sunday.

Seoul, which has long accused the North of sending large arms shipments to Russiapointed to videos circulating online that appear to show North Korean soldiers in Russian uniforms at military bases in the Far East.

North Korea’s representatives at the The United Nations rejected the requests.

In the first mention of the issue in North Korean state media, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu said he had “taken into account the rumor about sending People’s Army troops Korean in Russia.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry “does not directly involve itself in the affairs of the Ministry of National Defense and does not feel the need to confirm it separately,” he said.

If it were to exist, “it would be an act consistent with the rules of international law,” he said.

“There will obviously be forces that want to label it illegal,” Kim added.

South Korea criticized the troop deployment, calling on Russia to end its “illegal cooperation” with Pyongyang, and warned it would revise its stance on supplying weapons directly to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Domestic policy prohibits Seoul from selling weapons to active conflict zones, but the country – a major arms exporter – has already sold billions of dollars worth of tanks, howitzers, aircraft attack and rocket launchers on Poland, a key ally of kyiv.