Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to North Korea on a two-day visit starting Tuesday. He is scheduled to meet one of the main suppliers of weapons for his war against Ukraine. As the war progressed, Russia desperately needed conventional weapons, including artillery shells, which North Korea could supply. Here is an overview of What weapons North Korea has already supplied to Russia.
Previous Weapons Shipments
Back in September 2022, seven months after the start of the war, the United States first accused North Korea of selling artillery to Russia. However, North Korea denied the allegations at the time.
In August 2023, the White House warned that Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were holding arms talks, and in September, Kim visited Putin in eastern Russia. Weeks later, US officials said North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of weapons to Russia to be used in the war in Ukraine. Officials said in March that North Korea sent nearly 7,000 containers of arms to Russia.
South Korea’s defense minister said that the containers filled with 152 millimeter artillery shells could hold up to three million rounds. With 122-millimeter rockets, they could contain more than half a million projectiles. They could have contained a mixture of the two weapons, he added. In his latest estimate, Minister Shin Wok-sik puts the number of containers delivered from North Korea to Russia at 10,000.
In January, the White House said that Russia had started firing North Korea-made ballistic missiles. Arms control experts said fragments of the Hwasong-11A short-range ballistic missile were found after months of Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv in February. North Korea could also be providing anti-tank missiles and portable surface-to-air missiles, as well as rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and grenades, South Korean military officials said in November.
However, Moscow and Pyongyang deny any arms trade, which is prohibited under United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea.
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