WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The White House said on Friday that\u00a0North Korea\u00a0has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia for its\u00a0ongoing war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speculation about a possible North Korean plan to refill Russia\u2019s munition stores drained in its protracted war with Ukraine flared last month, when North Korean leader\u00a0Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia\u00a0to meet\u00a0President Vladimir Putin\u00a0and visit key military sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. believes Kim is seeking sophisticated Russian weapons technologies in return for the munitions to boost North Korea\u2019s military and nuclear program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House released images that it said show the containers were loaded onto a Russian-flagged ship before being moved via train to southwestern Russia. The containers were shipped between Sept. 7 and Oct. 1 between Najin, North Korea, and Dunay, Russia, according to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe condemn the DPRK for providing Russian with this military equipment, which will be used to attack Ukrainian cities and kill Ukrainian civilians and further Russia\u2019s illegitimate war,\u201d Kirby said, using the initials for Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea, the country\u2019s official name. \u201cIn return for support, we assess the Pyongyang is seeking military assistance from Russia including fighter aircraft, surface to air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment, or other materials and other advanced technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. unveiled the intelligence determination as North Korea\u00a0lashed out Friday\u00a0at the\u00a0arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group\u00a0in South Korea, calling it a provocation and again raising the specter of using nuclear weapons to defend itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North\u2019s official Korean Central News Agency called the aircraft carrier\u2019s arrival \u201can undisguised military provocation\u201d that proves a U.S. plan to attack North Korea is being realized. It threatened to respond in line with its escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. has accused North Korea of previously providing ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia. North Korea has previously denied providing weaponry to Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, last week published satellite photos that showed\u00a0a sharp increase in rail traffic along the North Korea-Russia border,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report said satellite images as of Oct. 5 captured \u201ca dramatic and unprecedented level of freight railcar traffic\u201d at the Tumangang Rail Facility. It said images show approximately 73 railcars while a review of previous satellite images over the past five years shows about 20 railcars at this facility at most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim last month, after he had met with Putin, called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a \u201cnew Cold War,\u201d North Korean state media said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During Kim\u2019s six-day trip to Russia, his longest foreign travel as a leader, the two countries said they discussed boosting their defense ties but didn\u2019t disclose any specific steps. Foreign experts speculate the two countries, both locked in confrontations with the West, were pushing to reach arms transfer deals in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trip to Russia was also Kim\u2019s first foreign trip since the pandemic, during which North Korea imposed tight border controls for more than three years. After decades of hot-and-cold relations, Russia and North Korea have drawn closer since Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang go back to the 1948 foundation of North Korea, as Soviet officials installed young, ambitious nationalist Kim Il Sung, the late grandfather of\u00a0Kim Jong Un, as the country\u2019s first ruler. Since then, Soviet aid shipments had been crucial in keeping North Korea\u2019s economy afloat for decades before the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, U.S.\u00a0Secretary of State Antony Blinken,\u00a0who is in the Middle East to consult with allies in the aftermath of last week\u2019s Hamas attack on Israel, spoke by phone on Friday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blinken and Kuleba discussed the latest battlefield developments, according to the State Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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