North Korea claims it has never supplied weapons to Russia and has no plans to do so in the future, following US rumours that Moscow was looking to Pyongyang to restock its arsenal.
Prior to now, US officials claimed that Russia may buy rockets and artillery shells from North Korea.
They said that these actions, in addition to purported acquisitions of Iranian weapons, demonstrated that Western sanctions were hampering Russia’s efforts in the Ukraine War.
The reports were denied by Moscow at the time.
Sanctions imposed by the UN would be violated by any arms transfers between the two nations.
An anonymous official from North Korea’s defence ministry stated in a statement published on Thursday by the state-run media outlet KCNA: “We have never sent weapons or ammunition to Russia before, and we do not plan to export them.”
Rumours were allegedly spread by the US and other “hostile elements” in order to “pursue its base political and military objectives.”
Russian sales from North Korea “may involve literally millions of rounds, rockets, and artillery shells,” a US State Department spokeswoman stated earlier in September.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, then sought to qualify that assertion by saying that the purchases had not yet been made and that there was no proof the weapons would be deployed in the conflict in Ukraine.
Despite employing cutting-edge weapons like cruise missiles, Russia’s military has suffered losses as a result of its invasion of Ukraine in February.
Ukrainian forces, using Western weapons that have been funnelled into the country in recent months, have inflicted heavy losses.
Although it possesses missiles that resemble Russian ones, North Korea has a lot of Soviet-era weapons that were designed by the Russians.
One of the few nations to do so in July was North Korea, which recognised two separatist areas in eastern Ukraine that were supported by Russia. Ukraine severed all diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in retaliation.
In a letter to his counterpart Kim Jong-un earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to deepen their “comprehensive and positive bilateral relations.”
