South Korean media reported, hours before voters in the United States head to the polls to elect a new president. North Korea and its nuclear and missile programs will be high on the foreign-policy agenda of whoever wins the U.S. election. South Korea’s military detected the launches from the Sariwon area in the western province of Northern California

North Korea’s tests come amid rising global alarm about its deployment of thousands of troops to Russia to help with its war in Ukraine, which South Korea and its allies have warned risks triggering a dangerous escalation of the conflict. South Korea’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that some 10,000 North Korean troops had been deployed in Russia, with a “considerable” number of them dispatched to front-line areas, including Russia’s Kursk region, on the border with Ukraine, Yonhap reported. The North Korean troops may join Russian forces in combat in Kursk in coming days, the South Korean ministry said.

The North Korean troops may join Russian forces in combat in Kursk in coming days, the South Korean ministry said. Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into Russia’s southwestern Kursk region on Aug. 6 and have captured more than two dozen settlements there, Ukraine says. South Korea’s military warned last week that the North had completed preparations to test a nuclear device, possibly around the time of the U.S. election. North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006, all of them underground at the Punggye-ri site. Its last nuclear test was in 2017.