North Korea insists it has never had arms dealings with Russia

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

North Korea’s military has denied American claims that it exported artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine, accusing Washington of spreading “groundless” rumours to “tarnish” its image.

The White House said last week that Russia is secretly supplying a “significant number” of ammunition shipments to North Korea, in a potential violation of multiple United Nations resolutions by Pyongyang.

State media KCNA reported a vice director at the North Korean ministry’s military foreign affairs office, who was not named, as saying: “We regard such moves of the U.S. as part of its hostile attempt to tarnish the image of (North Korea) in the international arena.”

“We once again make clear that we have never had ‘arms dealings’ with Russia and that we have no plan to do so in the future,” the vice director said.

It comes as North Korea has drawn closer to Moscow, its traditional ally, as Western countries slapped sanctions on the Kremlin. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed intentions of sending workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine and publically defended Russia’s war on Kyiv.

It was also one of the five countries last month that voted against a UN resolution that condemned Russia for annexing Ukrainian territory.

Just days after the US accused North Korea of helping the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, Moscow sent a trainload of 30 prized thoroughbred horses as the two countries opened borders for the first time in more than two years.

Mr Kim, who is often pictured galloping on snowy mountain trails astride a white charger, is an avid horseman.

The next train shipment from Russia would carry medicines for the hermit kingdom which is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic, spokespeople of Russia’s Far Eastern Railway told the state-run news agency on 2 November.

In September, US officials said newly declassified intelligence found that Russia was in the process of importing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea. Hitting back, Pyongyang asked the US to stop making “reckless remarks” and to “keep its mouth shut”.

On 2 November, White House’s national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US has “an idea” of which country or countries the North may funnel the weapons through but wouldn’t specify. He said the North Korean shipments are “not going to change the course of the war”, citing Western efforts to resupply the Ukrainian military.

“Our indications are the DPRK is covertly supplying and we’re going to monitor to see whether shipments are received,” Mr Kirby said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Our information indicates that they’re trying to obscure the method of supply by funneling them through other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.”

The UN sanctions prohibit North Korea from any arms sales to other countries. But UN reports have revealed that the Kim regime has conducted illicit weapons sales to Syria, Libya, Sudan and other conflict-ridden countries around the world.

The US and North Korea also exchanged barbs after Pyongyang unleashed a wave of weapon tests, conducting a record of around 30 missile tests in 24 hours. The back-to-back launches and artillery fire triggered separate emergency warnings in South Korea and Japan.

North Korea said on Monday that the barrage of tests was practiced by its army so it could “mercilessly” strike US and South Korea’s key targets, in the face of what it called provocations by conducting joint “Vigilant Storm” air force drills.

In a separate statement published on Tuesday by state media, a senior North Korean diplomat criticised UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s recent condemnation of its missile launch barrage, by calling him a “mouthpiece” of the US government.

South Korea’s navy said on Monday it retrieved debris presumed to be from neighbour’s ballistic missile tests.