If Pyongyang ever decides to send troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine its forces would be used as cannon fodder, Pentagon press secretary Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing on Tuesday.

“If I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choice of sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine. And we’ve seen the kinds of casualties that Russian forces,” Ryder said.

Russia’s military strategy during the war has involved using its superior numbers of soldiers to overwhelm Ukraine. While it has suffered heavy losses during its illegal invasion, it has been able to replace frontline troops quickly.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance to each other if either is attacked.

According to the pact, in case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by a foreign invasion, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay.

The treaty doesn’t mention the current war and there is no immediate indication as yet that North Korea will send troops, but Pyongyang does plan to send its military engineering unit to the occupied territories of Ukraine to undertake rebuilding work, Reuters reported citing South Korean TV Chosun channel. The troops being sent to Ukraine will likely serve as overseas workers to earn hard cash for North Korea, where the economy is strangled by international sanctions, according to TV Chosun’s report.

Pyongyang has been supplying Russia with weapons since 2023, but the country has never sent fighting troops in significant numbers to wage war in a conflict beyond the Korean Peninsula.

In February Ukrainian authorities reported shooting down at least 20 North Korean ballistic missiles Russia used in massive attacks against Ukraine since last year. North Korea has supplied more than 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia since last fall, the Washington Post reported.