Russia taps North Korea for millions of rockets and artillery shells to fight Ukraine: US intelligence report
- North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia amid the Ukraine war, recognising occupied territories and defending Moscow’s actions
- The US intelligence finding follows reports of Russia’s military taking delivery of drones made in Iran, also for use on the battlefield in Ukraine
US intelligence officials believe that the Russians could look to purchase additional North Korean military equipment in the future. The intelligence finding was first reported by The New York Times.
The White House said last week that Russia has faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired from Tehran in August for use in its war with Ukraine.
Russia picked up Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles over several days last month as part what the Biden administration says is likely part of a Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian UAVs for use in Ukraine.
The North Koreans have hinted interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’s east.
North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow recently met with envoys from two Russia-backed separatist territories in the Donbas region of Ukraine and expressed optimism about cooperation in the “field of labour migration”, citing his country’s easing pandemic border controls.
In July North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to recognise the independence of the territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, further aligning with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
The US has frequently downgraded and unveiled intelligence findings over the course of the grinding war in Ukraine to highlight plans for Russian misinformation operations or to throw attention on Moscow’s difficulties in prosecuting the war. Ukraine’s smaller military has put up a stiff resistance against the militarily superior Russian forces.
Some experts say that Kim could likely bolster his resolve to retain his nuclear weapons because he may think the Russian attack happened because Ukraine had signed away its nuclear arsenal.
Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang go back to the 1948 foundation of North Korea, as Soviet officials installed young, ambitious nationalist Kim Il-sung, the late grandfather of Kim Jong-un, as the country’s first ruler. Soviet aid shipments had been crucial in keeping North Korea’s economy afloat for decades before the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Moscow has since established formal diplomatic relations with Seoul as part of its hopes to draw South Korean investment and allowed its Soviet-era military alliance with North Korea to expire. But after his election in 2000, Putin actively sought to restore his country’s ties with North Korea in what was seen as an effort to regain its traditional domains of influence and secure more allies to better deal with the US.