N. Korea disputes that it provided weapons to Russian mercenaries in Ukraine

The Russian mercenary group Wagner Group allegedly received a cargo of North Korean rockets and missiles to aid Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine, according to a report from the United States that North Korea’s foreign ministry has called “absurd.”

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, revealed on Thursday that Pyongyang has supplied a first batch of weaponry to the Wagner Group, which is looking for munitions suppliers for its military activities in Ukraine across the globe.

We can attest that Wagner, who paid for the weapons, received the initial shipment of guns from North Korea. Wagner received infantry rockets and missiles from North Korea last month, Kirby told reporters.

In accordance with sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council as a result of its efforts to produce nuclear weapons, the export of weapons from that nation is prohibited.

According to Kirby, the US thinks that Wagner has 50,000 individuals in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 prisoners sourced from Russian jails.

According to Wagner, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been turning to him more frequently for assistance in Ukraine, where Russian forces have struggled.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who owns Wagner and on Thursday called the US claim “gossip and speculation,” is thought to be spending more than $100 million per month to pay for his mercenaries’ operations in Ukraine, Kirby continued.

The Wagner Group, which has been implicated in atrocities and human rights violations, has operated in countries including Mali, Libya, Syria, and the Central African Republic. Its members are former members of the Russian military and prisoners who have been freed in exchange for fighting in Ukraine.

A representative for the North Korean foreign ministry responded to a media report on the supposed shipment of weapons to Wagner by calling the information “fake” and the “most stupid red herring, which is not worth any comment or interpretation.”

According to a statement published in the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, “the DPRK remains unchanged in its principled attitude on the question of “arms transaction” between the DPRK and Russia, which has never happened” (KCNA).

The US was “causing death and ruin to Ukraine by providing it with various types of dangerous weaponry,” the North Korean official continued.

The acronym DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which is the official name of North Korea.

In a tweet posted on Friday, Barbara Woodward, the British ambassador to the UN, stated that London concurred with the conclusion made by Washington that “Russia has acquired weapons from North Korea, in breach of repeated UN Security Council Resolutions.”

The fact that President Putin is looking to North Korea for assistance is a sign of Russia’s plight and isolation, according to a statement from the UK’s foreign minister, James Cleverly.

“We will cooperate with our allies to make sure North Korea pays a heavy price for backing Russia’s unlawful conflict in Ukraine.

After the White House claimed that Pyongyang had secretly sent Russia a “substantial” quantity of artillery rounds in November, North Korea asserted that it had never dealt in armaments with Russia and had no plans to do so.

Russia has reportedly resorted to Iran for drones to use against Ukraine, according to Washington, and the US has expressed fear Moscow may try to buy more cutting-edge conventional weapons from Iran.

The fact that President Putin is looking to North Korea for assistance is a sign of Russia’s plight and isolation, according to a statement from the UK’s foreign minister, James Cleverly.

“We will cooperate with our allies to make sure North Korea pays a heavy price for backing Russia’s unlawful conflict in Ukraine.

After the White House claimed that Pyongyang had secretly sent Russia a “substantial” quantity of artillery rounds in November, North Korea asserted that it had never dealt in armaments with Russia and had no plans to do so.

Russia has reportedly resorted to Iran for drones to use against Ukraine, according to Washington, and the US has expressed fear Moscow may try to buy more cutting-edge conventional weapons from Iran.