The presidential office said Wednesday that it will begin talks with Ukraine this week over a visit by Kyiv's special envoy to South Korea, as the two nations vowed to step up responses against North Korea's troop deployment to Russia. A senior presidential official shared the intelligence assessment by South Korea and its allies that at least 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia, with some sent to Russia's western region near the border with Ukraine. During a phone call with President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will send a special delegation to South Korea soon to coordinate actions in response to North Korea's troop dispatch to Russia. "It will take a day or two for the Ukrainian side to designate a special envoy and finalize a plan to visit and hold discussions here," the official told reporters, on condition of anonymity. When asked whether South Korea is considering providing 155-millimeter artillery shells to Ukraine, the official cla rified that there has been no request from the Ukrainian side and that such a plan is not under consideration. Source: Yonhap News Agency