Arms supplies to Russia make North Korea bolder

North Korea has benefited from diplomatic relations with Russia. This was reported by Bloomberg with reference to Jung Park, a senior US State Department official on North Korea.

According to her, Pyongyang benefits not only from arms supplies to Vladimir Putin's regime, Russian economic and security assistance, but even from visits by high-ranking Russian officials. “This could give this once-isolated country a veneer of legitimacy that it does not deserve and should not have,” Park said, expressing concern that Kim Jong Un might “think his leash is longer than it really is.”

According to Park, North Korea has so far sent about 11,000 containers of ammunition to Russia, as well as 40 ballistic missiles that are being used to strike Ukraine. She believes this helped the Russian army after its failed offensive on Kyiv at the start of the full-scale invasion, when Russia's arms industry was crippled by a wave of European sanctions.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said that Seoul estimates that North Korean ammunition containers sent to Russia could contain about three million 152-millimeter artillery shells used by the Russian army in shelling Ukraine. This helped Putin improve the position of the Russian army amid a pause in the supply of American military aid to Kyiv. Previously, South Korean authorities claimed that Hamas was using North Korean weapons in the war with Israel.

In exchange for ammunition, Russia provides North Korea with food, raw materials and parts used in weapons production, Shin said. Food aid helped Kim Jong-un stabilize prices for essential goods. In addition, Russian assistance in weapons production could increase the military threat to South Korea from Pyongyang.

According to Park, the DPRK was able to benefit from relations with Russia due to the fact that Moscow vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to extend the work of a group of experts that had been reporting on the development of North Korean nuclear weapons for 15 years.

According to Bloomberg, Russia and North Korea have denied accusations of arms sales, despite satellite photographs published by research groups and the US government. The pictures show arms supply routes from North Korea to Russia. The ammunition is said to then end up in warehouses located near the border with Ukraine. According to the agency, artillery shells supplied to Russia alone are likely valued at billions of dollars.

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