New report reveals staggering number of North Korean arms shipments to Russia

North Korea has sent tens of thousands of shipping containers suspected of containing weapons to Russia since the two countries began deepening their bilateral formal relationship in 2022 according to one South Korean lawmaker.

Yonhap News reported that Pyongyang has sent more than 13,000 shipping containers to Russia based on a new report by South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Agency that was submitted to Representative Kang Dae-sik of the People Power Party. 

The report revealed the shipping containers could have held more than 6 million 152-millimeter artillery shells that were shipped to Russia via the hermit kingdom’s eastern port of Najin. South Korea has been tracking signs of North Korean arms shipments to Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

Photo Credit: X @markito0171

"To prepare for a prolonged war in Ukraine, Russia has moved to formalize North Korea as a supply base for weapons and ammunition," the agency explained according to Yonhap News. This wasn’t the first time South Korean authorities have sounded the alarm over North Korea’s weapons shipments to Russia. 

During an interview with Bloomberg News in June 2024, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik stated that Moscow had received roughly 10,000 shipping containers from its North Korean allies at that time.

Won-sik also noted that the shipping containers could have held as many as 4.8 million artillery shells that the Russian forces employed to attack targets inside Ukrainian territory. 

“Putin is expected to seek closer security cooperation with North Korea,” the South Korean Defense Minister explained to Bloomberg, adding that the Russian President was hoping to get more artillery shells that Moscow needed in order to “seize a chance to win.”

North Korea has also sent Russia dozens of ballistic missiles to help Moscow achieve a win against Ukraine. This is something the United States has confirmed and reported on ever since the first North Korean missiles were used in Ukraine. 

As recently as May 30th, 2024 the Pentagon asserted that Russia was receiving ballistic missiles and artillery shells from North Korea and that Moscow was using those munitions against Ukraine according to Reuters. 

A report from the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time revealed that analysis of debris confirmed North Korean solid-propellent short-range ballistic missiles were used by Russia in Ukraine in January 2024 in the Kharkiv region. 

"Analysis confirms that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine. North Korean missile debris was found throughout Ukraine," explained a Defense Intelligence Agency statement accompanying the report. 

In February 2024, reports began to emerge that as many as half of the 1.5 million artillery shells sent to Russia at that point from North Korea were believed to have been faulty or did not work based on comments from Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). 

"Today, if we take the available statistical data, the Russians have already imported 1.5 million rounds of ammunition from the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]," the Deputy Head of the GUR Vadym Skibitsky explained according to Newsweek. 

"But these munitions are from the 70s and 80s. Half of them do not function, and the rest require either restoration or inspection before use," Skibitsky added. However, despite the faulty shells, North Korea has gained something in return for its help. 

Bloomberg News reported that Russia was providing the North Koreans with technology to help the hermit kingdom in its plans to develop and launch spy satellites into orbit. 

Moscow was also reportedly helping Pyongyang by providing technology to advance the North Korean military’s conventional arms, including tanks and aircraft according to Bloomberg News. 

“North Korea is ignoring its people’s hardships to carry out missile provocations,” Shin told Bloomberg News about Pyongyang’s ongoing missile program costs. “The money is enough to cover North Korea’s food shortages for a year.”

Kim Jogn Un spent a lot of money on North Korea's missile program in 2023 according to Bloomberg News, which reported that Pyongyang's missile tests alone cost North Korea $1 billion dollars, or about 4% of the country's total economy.

Won-sik’s comments in June were published just days before Putin was scheduled to Visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea. it was the first time the Russian President had visited his allies in North Korea since July 2000 according to the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.