North Korea trades arms with Russia, raising nuclear concerns
North Korea has delivered 6 million units of artillery ammunition and over 100 ballistic missiles to Russia. In return, Pyongyang received air defense systems and space technologies, as disclosed by U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield during a debate in the UN Security Council.
According to Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, North Korea sent over 20,000 containers of ammunition to Russia, including heavy artillery shells. Pyongyang also provided Russia with self-propelled 170 mm howitzers (approximately 6.7 inches) and rocket artillery systems. Furthermore, among the more than 11,000 soldiers sent by North Korea to fight in Ukraine are elite special forces units.
The U.S. ambassador expressed concern about the possibility of Russia formally accepting North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
"Alarmingly, we assess that Russia may be close to accepting North Korea's nuclear-weapons program, reversing Moscow's decades-long commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," she said, adding that Russia may sabotage the sanctions program against the program.
Such a stance would mean reversing the decades-long commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
During the debate, Jonah Leff from Conflict Armament Research reported that remnants of North Korean missiles were found in Ukraine. This suggests that Moscow is using freshly produced missiles by the DPRK, which contain Western components.
