Russia says it will build close ties with North Korea ‘in all areas’

Russia said on Thursday that it planned to build close ties with North Korea in all areas, a day after South Korea, Japan and the United States condemned what they said were weapons supplies from Pyongyang to Moscow.

Asked about the accusation by the three countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There are many such reports, they are all groundless as a rule, there are no specifics. Such reports have been around for a long time. We see no point in commenting on this.”

He added: “North Korea is our neighbour and we continue and will continue to develop close relations in all areas.”

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Pressed on whether weapons deliveries had taken place, Peskov said: “We don’t comment on this in any way.”

The strategy involves throwing “masses of poorly trained soldiers right into the battlefield without proper equipment, and … without proper training and preparation,” Kirby said. He added that the decision shows that Russia has “no regard for the lives of its own soldiers,” and that where Russia is making progress, it is “very scant and short.”

The UK’s defence ministry said in a post on X on Thursday that North Korea has sent more than 1,000 containers of munitions to Russia over the past several week and is on track to become one of Russia’s biggest foreign arms suppliers.

If North Korea keeps up the “recent scale and pace of military-related shipments,” the dictatorship would be “on course to become one of Russia’s most significant foreign arms suppliers, alongside Iran and Belarus,” the intelligence said.

The UK’s assessment echoes that of the White House.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said earlier this month that the US believes North Korea wants Russian military help – including fighter aircraft, armoured vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment, and surface-to-air missiles – in exchange for weapons.

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Kirby said the US is closely monitoring whether Moscow delivers on Pyongyang’s expectations, adding that “we have already observed Russian ships offloading containers in the DPRK, which may constitute … the initial deliveries of material from Russia.”

Kirby said a military alliance between Russia and North Korea could undermine “regional stability and the global non-proliferation regime” and that the US is sanctioning the two countries.

Additional reporting by Business Insider