The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia was initiated by Pyongyang, not Moscow, according to U.S. officials. The initiative was swiftly approved by Vladimir Putin, as reported by The New York Times,

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has, for the first time, sent combatant units abroad, to aid Russia in the war in Ukraine. As noted in the Joint Statement on the DPRK’s Deployment of Troops to Russia this development indelibly connects the Indo-Pacific and European theaters,