SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea says it has not exported arms to Russia during the war in Ukraine and has no plans to do so, saying US intelligence reports of arms transfers are an attempt to tarnish North Korea’s image .
In a state media report Thursday, an unnamed North Korean defense official urged the US to “make reckless remarks” and “shut up.” Biden administration officials earlier this month confirmed a declassified US intelligence assessment that Russia was in the process of buying weapons from North Korea, including millions of artillery shells and missiles, as Moscow seeks to ease Ukraine’s severe supply shortages caused by US-led export controls have been tightened and sanctions.
The North Korean statement came weeks after Moscow called the US intelligence finding “fake”.
North Korean arms exports to Russia would violate United Nations resolutions banning the country from importing or exporting arms.
The North Korean official stressed that Pyongyang never recognized the UN Security Council’s “unlawful” sanctions against the country, which “were concocted by the US and its vassal forces.” The official said the export and import of military equipment is a “statutory right peculiar to a sovereign state,” according to an English translation of the statement released by the official North Korean Central News Agency.
“But we’re taking this opportunity to make one thing clear. We have never exported arms or ammunition to Russia before, nor will we plan to export them,” said the official, who has been described as deputy director-general of the National Defense Ministry’s general equipment bureau.
“It is not certain where the rumor that the US is spreading came from, but it aims to tarnish the DPRK’s image,” the official said, referring to the country’s official name, DPRK.
In August, amid sanctions and export controls, Russia bought Iran-made drones that US officials said had technical problems. Experts say that if North Korea is willing to do so, it could become a major source of small arms, artillery and other ammunition for Russia, given the compatibility of its Soviet-rooted defense systems.
North Korea has sought to cement ties with Russia, despite most of Europe and the West having pulled out, blaming the US for the crisis and the West’s “hegemonic policies” as justification for Russian military action in Ukraine on its own denounced protection.
The North Korean government has even indicated that it is interested in sending construction workers to help rebuild pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. In July, North Korea became the only nation alongside Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
North Korea has also used the war as a window to accelerate its own weapons development, tested dozens of weapons including its first long-range missiles since 2017, and exploited a rift in the UN Security Council, where Russia and China have blocked US attempts to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang.
The North has paused its testing activities with repeated threats of a nuclear conflict with Seoul and Washington. The most recent was a law passed by the Pyongyang parliament this month, further cementing the country’s status as a nuclear power and authorizing the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons in a variety of scenarios where its leadership is threatened.
Sung Kim, the Biden administration’s special envoy for North Korea, met with South Korea’s counterpart Kim Gunn in Seoul on Thursday, where they expressed “serious concerns” about the North’s escalating nuclear doctrine spelled out in the new law, South Korea’s foreign ministry said .
The diplomats reaffirmed the US commitment to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear ones, to defend South Korea in the event of a nuclear war. The allies also stood by their months-long assessment that North Korea was preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017 and were discussing “tough” countermeasures to such an action, the ministry said.