Today for the first time the US government confirmed that North Korean forces are in Russia to help fight Ukraine.

The US said 3,000 troops have traveled so far, what it called a serious escalation.

It also reveals North Korea is expanding its alliance with Russia to take on the US and its

allies.

Nick Schifron reports. In Eastern Russia, marching to fight someone else's war.

Russian cell phone video apparently shows North Korean troops deploying to Russia, receiving

Russian equipment.

The first wave of what Ukraine and South Korea say will be 12,000 North Korean troops. The US says it's not clear how they will be used.

But they're believed to be special forces known as the Storm Corps and if they join the battle they may suffer

the consequences says National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

If they do deploy to fight against Ukraine,

they're fair targets.

Already North Korea has shipped Russia more than a million

artillery shells and ballistic missiles that Russia uses to strike Ukrainian residential neighborhoods

and injure and kill Ukrainian civilians.

But North Korea's willingness to send soldiers who could die on Russia's behalf

help cement their alliance,

says the Center for Strategic and International Studies,

Victor Cha.

Sending troops is about the biggest symbol

of an alliance commitment that one country can make to another. So it really shows that

North Korea is all in with the Russians in terms of this war in Ukraine, this war in Europe. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang to sign a treaty with the

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