North Korea's economy will return to growth due to arms supplies to Russia

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Arms supplies to Russia will help North Korea's GDP grow by 1% for the first time since before the pandemic, Deutsche Welle reports. This will be the highest figure since 2016, when sanctions were imposed against North Korea due to Pyongyang's nuclear program.

According to South Korean intelligence, Russia has already received more than two million artillery shells and several ballistic missiles from the DPRK. Bloomberg estimates that the missiles could cost several million dollars each, and the 155mm shells cost about $3,000 to $4,000 apiece, so the total cost of the resulting weapons could be billions of dollars. This is a huge sum for the North Korean economy, which was estimated at just $24.5 billion in 2022.

Defense industrial enterprises are among the largest employers in the DPRK, employing two million people out of a population of 26 million in the production of weapons. This sector contributes significantly to the economy along with agriculture. It is expected that Pyongyang will make a profit of at least $1 billion from the sale of shells to Russia, but experts do not know how exactly Moscow will pay: in money or by exporting Russian military technology.