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Russian forces have used North Korean weapons to intensify missile attacks against critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and “terrorised” entire cities, according to a report by UN members that reveals the extent of Moscow’s dependence on the regime in Pyongyang.
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, comprising 11 countries including the US, Britain, EU states and Japan, said Kim Jong-un’s dictatorship had supplied Russia with more than 20,000 containers of munitions since September 2023.
The team said the evidence it had gathered showed that North Korea and Russia had engaged in “myriad unlawful activities” prohibited by UN sanctions resolutions.
In June 2024, Kim, the North Korean ruler, and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty that commits the two countries to come to each other’s aid if attacked.
In its first report since it was formed in 2024 to monitor UN sanctions triggered by the North’s nuclear weapons programme, the group said as many as nine million rounds of artillery and rocket launcher ammunition had been shipped from North Korea to Russia.
“At least for the foreseeable future, North Korea and Russia intend to continue and further deepen their military cooperation in contravention of relevant UN security council resolutions,” the monitoring team said. North Korea had also “contributed to Moscow’s ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities, including targeted strikes against critical civilian infrastructure”.
North Korea is seeking Russian help with its troubled spy satellite programme in return for providing military aid, including thousands of soldiers. It has also sent Russia powerful weapons.
Since it started shipping ammunition to Russia in September 2023, the North has transferred at least 100 ballistic missiles, self-propelled artillery guns, long-range multiple rocket launchers and munitions, according to the report.
The report said North Korea had transferred the arms and other items by sea, air and rail.
North Korean ballistic missiles were being used “to destroy civilian infrastructure and terrorise populated areas such as Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia”, it said.
The Kremlin has reciprocated by helping Pyongyang with its ballistic missile programmes through the provision of data feedback based on the weapons’ performance in the Ukraine war.
This, the report said, had led to “improvements in missile guidance performance”. Moscow had also provided air defence equipment and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as electronic warfare systems to North Korea, it said.
The estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers sent to fight in the war with Ukraine last year have also gained first-hand battlefield experience, to the alarm of officials in South Korea. The report noted that a further 3,000 reinforcements had been dispatched recently.
The 11-member monitor group was set up after Russia vetoed a resolution in March 2024 that would have seen a UN security council panel of experts continue monitoring North Korea for violation of sanctions.
Kim and Putin last month confirmed for the first time that North Korea had sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine, describing them as “heroes”.
