In comments to Interfax-Ukraine, HUR also said Pyongyang had begun supplying Moscow with artillery systems last month.
“In total, over 100 pieces of various equipment have been transferred, including 170-mm M-1989 self-propelled artillery systems, and 240-mm M-1991 multiple rocket launchers,” it added.
“Additionally, North Korea continues to supply Russia with large-calibre artillery ammunition and short-range ballistic missiles of the Kn-23/24 type.”
HUR noted that as of this month, over 5 million artillery rounds and 100 artillery shells have been delivered.
On the same day, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in Pyongyang for an official visit amid deepening military cooperation between the two countries.
Belousov’s visit to Pyongyang comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to the hermit country in June, where Russia formally deepened it military and economic cooperation with Pyongyang.
Pyongyang is believed to have dispatched over 10,000 troops to aid Russia’s war, with the first clashes with Ukrainian forces reported in Kursk Oblast. North Korea has also become Moscow’s leading supplier of artillery shells and ballistic missiles.
But Putin has sidestepped claims that North Korea has sent soldiers to Russia, insisting that it was up to Moscow how to run its mutual defence clause with Pyongyang.
A source with Ukraine’s General Staff has also indicated to Reuters that the majority of North Korean soldiers were finalizing training.
In recent months, Russia has focused on regaining territory lost in the country’s Kursk Oblast following a surprise Ukrainian incursion into the region in August. According to the source in Ukraine’s General Staff, Ukraine has lost over 40 percent of the territory it previously gained in Kursk Oblast due to Russian counterattacks.
NATO allies believe that Putin is aiming to recapture territory lost in Kursk Oblast before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, the Telegraph reported, hoping to gain leverage in future peace negotiations.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared that his country will “invariably support” Russia’s war in Ukraine during a meeting with Russia’s defense chief.
The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim and Belousov reached “a satisfactory consensus” on strengthening their strategic partnership and safeguarding each nation’s sovereignty, security interests, and international justice amid evolving global security challenges.
Kim emphasized that North Korea “will invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity from the imperialists’ moves for hegemony”, according to KCNA.
