N.Korean army denies exporting weapons, ammunition to Russia

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IANS | 22 Sep, 2022
North Korea's military said on Thursday that it has never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia and does not plan to do so, rejecting accusations of arms trade between the two countries amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to its state media.

Earlier this month, a US State Department spokesperson said Russia may be in the process of purchasing "millions of rockets and artillery shells" from North Korea, which would violate multiple UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions on Pyongyang, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"We have never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia before and we will not plan to export them," the vice director general of the General Bureau of Equipment at the North's Defence Ministry said in an English-language statement carried by the Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The KCNA did not mention the name of the official.

"We condemn the US for thoughtlessly circulating the rumour against the DPRK to pursue its base political and military aim," the official added.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The official also defended the North's right to develop arms and export them, and took aim at the UNSC resolutions against Pyongyang.

Pyongyang has recently touted its friendly ties with Moscow despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

In July, the North officially recognised two pro-Russian separatist "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine -- Donetsk and Luhansk -- becoming the world's third nation to do so after Russia and Syria.