“Groundless”: North Korea Rejects US Claims Of Arms Supply To Russia

Seoul:

North Korea said on Tuesday that the United States’ claims that Pyongyang is supplying artillery ammunition to Moscow for its war in Ukraine were baseless, state media KCNA reported.

The rebuke comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula after North Korean weapons tests last week – including an intercontinental ballistic missile – as the United States and South Korea held their largest-ever air force exercises.

The United States and South Korea have warned that the North’s recent missile launches could result in nuclear tests.

Tuesday’s statement contradicted last week’s allegations by White House national security spokesman John Kirby, who said artillery from North Korea to Russia was arriving under the guise of shipments to the Middle East or Africa.

“Recently, the US has been continuously spreading ‘rumours of an arms deal’ between the DPRK and Russia,” North Korea’s deputy director of military foreign affairs at the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, according to KCNA.

The statement said North Korea sees the “rumour” as part of the United States’ “hostile attempt to tarnish the DPRK’s image in the international arena”, using an acronym for North Korea’s official name. Is.

“We once again clarify that we have never had an ‘arms deal’ with Russia and have no plans to do so in the future,” the statement said.

Kirby said US officials did not know whether Russia had actually received the ammunition, but that they were trying to monitor the shipment.

US information indicates that North Korea is “secretly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while trying to show that the actual destination of the arms shipment They are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the United States believes the “significant” number of shells sent is enough to help Russia prolong the war – which began with Moscow’s invasion of its former Soviet neighbor in February. But this is not enough to give it an advantage over the Ukrainian forces. Which are being supplied by the United States and NATO allies.

– Signs of Russia’s ‘shortage’ –

In September Pyongyang denied the White House’s claim that it was planning to provide ammunition to the Russian military to help replenish its stockpile, now severely ended by an eight-month-old war. It is done.

Kirby said the shipments were “a sign of Russia’s own defense article shortages and needs” as they face international sanctions limiting their re-stocking capabilities, which he said is also the reason Iran is sending drone supplies. .

Kirby would not specify how or which routes the North Korean ammunition was traveling.

He said the US would consult its allies and partners, particularly at the United Nations, on what measures could be taken.

North Korea’s latest warning against the United States came just a day after its previous rebuttal, with Pyongyang on Monday vowing a “firm and overwhelming” military response to last week’s US-South Korean war exercises.

North Korea’s military confirmed that its latest ballistic missile tests were a response to Washington and Seoul’s so-called Vigilant Storm operations.

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