North Korea has sent Russia new shipments of artillery systems and missile launchers to support its war effort against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, AFP informs.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (SNR) “has confirmed that the North has sent 177 mm self-propelled artillery pieces and long-range 240 mm rocket launchers,” Lee said after an SNR press conference. Seong-kweun, a member of a parliamentary intelligence committee.
North Korea has also deployed personnel to handle the maintenance of these weapons that are not part of Russia’s conventional arsenal, he added, without giving further details.
Seoul accuses Pyongyang of providing weapons and more recently thousands of troops to its Russian ally, in the process of strengthening their ties.
These soldiers “were assigned to brigades of the Russian Air Force and Navy for tactical and intervention training. Some are believed to have engaged in fighting” in the Kursk border region, Lee continued.
According to him, the South Korean intelligence services estimate the number of North Koreans sent to Russia for the war at 11,000 and assess that these troops are “suffering losses”.
Neither Pyongyang nor Moscow have confirmed the presence of these soldiers. North Korea nevertheless stated at the end of October that any development would be “in accordance” with international law.
The two allies are bound by a mutual defense treaty, recently ratified.
According to analysts, the acceleration of weapons tests undertaken by North Korea could be a preliminary stage for further North Korean shipments of equipment to Russia.
Pyongyang’s increasing commitment to Moscow has led Seoul to change its position on the war in Ukraine, not ruling out the possibility of delivering weapons directly to Kiev.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
