Lt. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, Commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, has issued a warning that North Korean troops deployed to the Ukraine war in support of Russia are gaining modern combat experience.

Commander Hilbert met with reporters in Washington, D.C., earlier this month and said, "Just as all of us are watching how the character of war is changing in Ukraine and the Middle East, North Korea is certainly doing the same," according to a report by the U.S. online media outlet Axios on the 27th (local time).

He pointed out that North Korea is "taking that experience back" with them from the war, where drones and robotics are transforming the nature of warfare.

Commander Hilbert's remarks are interpreted as a reiteration of previous assessments that North Korea gaining practical combat experience in the Ukraine conflict—where advanced military technologies are deployed—could pose a security threat to the Korean Peninsula.

Regarding this, Axios noted, "The lessons learned on the front lines are especially valuable to an isolated regime," and added, "Continued exposure (to actual combat for North Korean troops) could spell trouble for South Korea and the United States."

Commander Hilbert also commented on cooperation between Russia and North Korea, stating, "While I won't go into specifics about what that looks like, there is clearly cooperation taking place."

(Photo: Captured from the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) website, Yonhap News)