“As we have said before, arms supply negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively progressing,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. And “we know that Kim Jong Un wants these negotiations to continue, including a diplomatic exchange at the highest level in Russia,” she added in an email to the press.
On Wednesday, the chief spokesman of the National Security Council, John Kirby, had already expressed alarm at the rapid progress of these negotiations on future arms deliveries from Pyongyang to Moscow and had called on the communist regime to “stop “these talks.
John Kirby had revealed that “these potential agreements would see Russia receive significant quantities” of armaments, in particular ammunition for artillery, as well as raw materials for its defense industry. These weapons would be “used against Ukraine”, added the American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Artillery shells and anti-tank missiles
According to The New York Times, Kim Jong Un is expected to travel to Vladivostok, on Russia’s east coast, on an armored train later this month to meet with Vladimir Putin. An official at the South Korean Unification Ministry also told AFP that several elements “indicate” that discussions between Pyongyang and Moscow on future arms deliveries are progressing.
“Any form of cooperation between North Korea and its neighboring countries must be conducted in a way that does not undermine international norms and peace,” he added. The North Korean leader’s trips abroad are rare. Besides his trips to Singapore and Vietnam in 2018 and 2019 for summits with then-US President Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un made four visits to China. He also previously met Mr. Putin in Vladivostok in 2019.
The New York Times states that Vladimir Putin wants to obtain artillery shells and anti-tank missiles from North Korea. Mr. Kim is said to be seeking advanced technologies for satellites and submarines, as well as food aid.
Washington said last week that North Korea had supplied infantry rockets and missiles to Russia in 2022 for use by the private paramilitary group Wagner.
The White House on Monday again denounced the late July visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to North Korea, where he attended a military parade alongside Kim Jong Un, in order “to try to convince Pyongyang to sell to Russia artillery ammunition”.
Three Sanctioned Entities
Last week, the United States, Britain, South Korea and Japan said any deal to increase cooperation between Russia and North Korea would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions banning arms sales to Pyongyang, resolutions that Moscow itself approved. They said that following Sergei Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang, another group of Russian officials visited North Korea for follow-up talks.
According to Cho Han-bum, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, international sanctions will not prevent any exchange of arms between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Russia and North Korea are “not worried” about sanctions because both countries are already subject to them, he said, adding that military cooperation between the two countries seems “inevitable”. Last month, Washington sanctioned three entities accused of seeking to facilitate arms sales between North Korea and Russia.
They were linked to a Slovak national already sanctioned by the US Treasury in March for allowing arms sales between Pyongyang and Moscow, according to the Treasury Department. According to the same source, Russia continues to run out of ammunition and lose heavy equipment in Ukraine, forcing it to turn to its core group of allies for help.