North Korea could get a vital lifeline from arms sales to Russia: Report

New Delhi: Russia’s search for weapons to use against Ukraine could provide North Korea with a lifeline as even a small arms transaction would boost the nation’s cash-starved and stagnant economy, according to a report.

Earlier this month, the US made fresh accusations that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was providing arms and ammunition to aid Putin’s war, including sending shells and rockets. While the Biden administration said the weapons won’t do much to alter the battlefield, the sales would open a new stream of revenue to a country isolated from much of world trade.

Even though North Korea has refuted American accusations of arms transfers, Kim would benefit from any such agreement, the report claimed.

Due to border closures during the pandemic, North Korea’s already weak economy experienced one of its worst declines in recent decades.

“North Korea would grab with both hands an opportunity to get rid of aging stocks of legacy munitions at a significant markup,” a Bloomberg report quoted weapons expert Joost Oliemans as saying.

The regime has produced a “myriad” of older, towed artillery designs that are compatible with some Russian systems, added Oliemans, who co-authored the book The Armed Forces of North Korea.

While the US hasn’t provided details on the amount of weapons it believes North Korea has sent to Russia, the Biden administration said when it first made the accusations in September the Kremlin wanted to buy millions of rockets and artillery shells.

John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, stated at a news briefing about a week ago that there was evidence the Wagner Group, a paramilitary group heavily involved in the operation to seize the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, was receiving supplies from the North Korean government.

He exhibited two images that allegedly depicted Russian trains heading to North Korea.

“We obviously condemn North Korea’s actions, and we urge North Korea to cease these deliveries to Wagner immediately,” Kirby was quoted as saying by Bloomberg, pointing out the benefits to Kim’s regime for the transfers.

“Let’s keep it in perspective. This is not a burgeoning economy,” he added.

Some North Korean items likely on Putin’s wish list would be 122-millimeter and 152-mm artillery rounds as well as 122-mm rockets, Oliemens said. The price for 122-mm rockets was about $6,000 a few years ago, he said, adding it was difficult to get prices for the items North Korea might be sending.

Oliemens said a major deal could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars and said it would make sense for Russia to first acquire smaller batches first and assess their quality and effectiveness before committing to a larger purchase.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s leader, last week reaffirmed the country’s support for Russia in its struggle against the US and “its top-class stooges.”

“We will always stand in the same trench with the service personnel and people of Russia who have turned out in the struggle to defend the dignity and honor of the state and the sovereignty and security of the country,” she was quoted as saying by official Korean Central News Agency.

According to the Bank of Korea in Seoul, one of the few entities to produce regular assessments of the country’s outlook, North Korea’s economy failed to grow in 2021 and faced dubious prospects last year.

Weapons, particularly the rudimentary 20th-century artillery that is seeing something of a renaissance on the front lines of Ukraine, are one thing Kim does have in abundance. The International Institute of Strategic Studies believes that North Korea has an arsenal of more than 21,600 artillery pieces.

The growing ties between the two countries came to the fore when Russia in recent months used its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block additional sanctions on North Korea for its ballistic missile tests. On the other hand, North Korea was one of the few countries that recognised the Kremlin-controlled “People’s Republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.