Ten years ago, no one would have thought that Russia and China would openly block key actions against North Korea on the UN Panel of Experts. Not only are Russia and China blocking important sanctions initiatives at the UN, both nations now routinely violate sanctions against Pyongyang.
Further, Russia now sources weapons of war from both North Korea and Iran to sustain its invasion of Ukraine.
How It All Started
In June 2022, North Korean diplomats reportedly attended meetings at the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry where they discussed playing a role in Eastern Ukraine. Pyongyang’s representatives reportedly wanted access to Western weapons seized by Russian troops in the war.
Among other goods in exchange, they offered up manpower. In August 2022, North Korea reportedly selected workers to be dispatched to Eastern Ukraine. Also in August of that year, North Korea reportedly offered Moscow “100,000 volunteers.”
In September 2022, U.S. government officials said that Russia was buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea. In November, the U.S. government again told the press that North Korea was covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to Russia.
John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said he did not know if the munitions had reached Russia at that time. He further added, “Our information indicates that they’re trying to obscure the method of supply by funneling them through other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.” Iran is the likely connection, though Syria is a distinct possibility as well. Iran had already started supplying Russia with drones, so why not ship North Korean munitions through the region into Russia?
Evidence Emerges
In December, imagery was released in the public domain that revealed North Korea is also likely making shipments to Russia using the railway that runs between the two nations starting at the Russia-North Korea border. So it seems that at least for now, the North Koreans are shipping weapons and receiving Russian barter payments via two routes — the Middle East, likely through Iran and/or Syria, and directly through the railway system.
The White House confirmed in December that North Korea had made an initial arms shipment to Russia’s Wagner Group private military corporation, and that more military equipment was to be delivered.
In January 2023, Kirby told the press that North Korea continues to provide ammunition to Russia, and the National Security Council released imagery of Russian rail cars delivering weapons. By February, satellite traffic showed significantly increased rail traffic between North Korea and Russia. North Korea is reportedly receiving Russian oil, gas, and flour in exchange for these initial arms deliveries.
Finally, in August, the U.S. Treasury Department invoked sanctions against several entities and individuals in Russia accused of working with the North Koreans to move arms into Russia for its fight in Ukraine. The individuals and entities sanctioned have reportedly organized the acquisition of over two dozen kinds of weapons and munitions, with goods being used for payment.
On July 20, the U.S. State Department sanctioned several Russian entities, but it also sanctioned a North Korean arms dealer for enabling arms shipments to Wagner Group in Russia. To quote the State Department document, “Yong Hyok Rim (Rim) is designated pursuant to section 1(a)(vi)(B) for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked.
Rim, a North Korea national, has assisted or provided support for Prigozhin and has facilitated shipments of munitions to the Russian Federation.” According to a UN Panel of Experts report in 2019, Rim previously was the deputy head in Syria of the infamous North Korean front company KOMID. Thus the likely Middle East connection.
An Emphasis on Containment
Starting in 2022, the North Koreans and Russians set up arms deals that have already resulted in deliveries of conventional weapons and munitions from North Korea to Russia. These deals remain active, and they are likely to continue for as long as Russia continues its war against Ukraine. North Korea appears to be using both rail transport and maritime means to get its arms and munitions into Russia for use in the ongoing war.
We are thus witnessing a new type of relationship between North Korea and Russia. Moscow provides resources and foodstuffs badly needed in North Korea, and Pyongyang supplies military equipment that Russia continues to need as its forces take heavy casualties and its supply networks continue to struggle.
As this relationship continues to develop, ways to contain these arms transfers must be discussed.
About the Author
Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr. (Ph.D. Union Institute), is an award-winning professor of political science at Angelo State University and a retired Marine. He was formerly on the faculty at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College (2005–2010) and the Air Command and Staff College (2003–2005). Dr. Bechtol is a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor.
David N. Tate
September 1, 2023 at 1:50 pm
No any coordination between North Korea and the Russian Federation is certainly not a threat. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Russian Federation spends something less than $70 Billion annually on defense and is being taken apart by the United States, European Union, and NATO alliance through the Ukrainian proxy war. In fact, the US Department of State is all breathless in contemplating regime change in Moscow and the dismemberment of the Russian Federation in order to allow Brussels to dominate Europe from the Atlantic seabord to the Ural Mountains.
The North Koreans have even fewer resources in that they spend less than $5 Billion annually on defense. South Korea, alone, spends over $50 Billion annually on defense. Japan and Australia add another $100 Billion annually on defense. The United States leads the three most powerful military alliance / coalitions on the face of the Earth. The United States and her allies in Europe, the Persian Gulf, and the Western Pacific spend well over $1.2 Trillion annually on defense. The United States and her allies hold overwhelming military superiority over both Russia and North Korea.
There are no significant threats to the United States and her allies. None. It just is not possible.
John
September 1, 2023 at 3:53 pm
SK, Japan, Australia need to wake up. They need their own nuclear deterrence.. The US needs to wake up. It needs to go to at least 3000 deployed nuclear warheads for adequate nuclear deterrence. Nuclear Jassm is needed and needs to be made available to our allies.
GB and France need to to 600 deployed warheads each for better European nuclear deterrence. The West is asleep at the wheel.
Commentar
September 1, 2023 at 4:44 pm
Russia-north Korea alliance would actually rate as a non-starter or ‘stillborn’ or zero chance of existence project had it not been for the zealousness of uncle Sam to kick up a heinously evil world geopolitical rivalry after end of Cold War.
After the end of the famous Cold War (1990/1991), the US DoD and CIA embarked on 251+ military conflicts and interventions around the world.
From 1776 to present, US (america) has conducted or operated or prosecuted at least 469 wars or conflicts.
Of those 469+ wars, the majority was made after the 1990-1991 period.
That kind of conduct thus is the all-empowering cause that naturally produces alliances like the russia-north Korea alliance.
So, the big devil is the US, which provokes, threatens, instigates and prosecutes wars and conflicts and military ops far far away from home, while ignoring great calamities found next door, like mexico and Haiti.
To fight this devil, independent nations must spit & polish their nuke capabilities and nuke arsenals.
ATM
September 1, 2023 at 8:08 pm
Are they are going to steal some ships and invade the US? Perhaps show up on the Mexican border with a great army? I serously think that Russia is busy in Ukraine. If they can outproduce us we have some serious questions to ask of the military industrial complex.
Joe Comment
September 1, 2023 at 11:00 pm
David N. Tate: Have you ever visited anyplace that is under what you called the “domination” of Brussels? Have you ever read anything written about Russia by US State Department officials? Have you been exposed to any information about the way the war in Ukraine started and how it is currently progressing? Or are you merely doing a job of repeating a paranoid fantasy?
George Gordon Byron
September 2, 2023 at 12:51 am
For David N. Tate:
1) Yours: “…coordination between North Korea and the Russian Federation is certainly not a threat.”
Answer: True. Neither the DPRK nor the Russian Federation are creeping up to the United States, they are not setting up any unreasonable intrigues against the United States.
2) Yours: “The Russian Federation spends something like $70 billion a year on defense.” “The North Koreans have even fewer resources because they spend less than $5 billion a year on defense.”
Answer: it is clear that the all-powerful USA, NATO, the EU, in the number of at least 52 countries since 1945, have failed almost all military campaigns against weak (poi menie!) Countries, and all European empires have collapsed. You do not understand the difference in the purchasing power of the dollar in the United States and within the DPRK RF. Russia has the lowest food inflation in Europe.
I recommend studying what the real economy is (industry, agriculture, etc.), and what is the paper-digital economy (financial-credit and exchange). And you will see that in Russia the share of the real economy is higher than in the US and the EU.
3) Yours: “… is considering regime change in Moscow and the dismemberment of the Russian Federation.”
Answer: fables about the destruction of the Russian Federation and its economy have been heard for more than a year. These fables are told in turn by anyone, anywhere.
Result: 2022, (World Bank) According to the results of GDP (PPP), Russia ranked 5th in the world, ahead of Germany and Great Britain.
Germany is strangled in the gentle embrace of the USA, Poland, Ukraine.
4) Yours: “US Department of State, with bated breath.”
Answer: This breathlessly leads to a decrease in the body’s oxygen consumption, where the two persidents are under criminal investigations….
Cheburator
September 2, 2023 at 2:47 am
David N. Tate
how are the successes of the Ukrainian offensive?
in 2 months of an active offensive, with difficulty capturing 700 square miles, losing 60 thousand soldiers, this is such progress.
And it is not a fact that Ukraine will not have to retreat beyond the Dnieper in the fall, because the left bank cannot be physically held.
As for the difference in the size of the military budget – if Russia or North Korea allocates some equivalent in dollars, this does not mean that the purchasing power is the same.
For example, the cost of a serial Su-57 was the equivalent of $ 30 million – F22 cried next to it with a price tag of $ 150-200 million apiece
Webej
September 2, 2023 at 12:58 pm
–T–he whole artcle does not have a single data point to rest on.
–Are there fragments of artillery shells with N Korean markings?
–Are there fragments that have tell-tale metallurgical clues?
–Is there a single report of a Korean fighting in the Donbass?
–Why would they launder shells through Africa & mid-East when they have a mutual border and shipping ports close to each other?
Why, to taint other countries, b/c it’s all propaganda.
–Why would Iran ship via Syria, when Moscow and Teheran have opened the NSTC to move goods from Russia to the Indian Ocean through Iran and vice versa?
None of this makes sense b/c it’s propaganda.
There is no evidence that Russia has the same shell production problems as does Nato. No evidence of anything in this story.
Webej
September 2, 2023 at 1:00 pm
How much does N Korea or Russia spend on their military?
The answer: $ 0000 ; Not one dollar.
Perhaps you should look at how any tanks or shells they produce?
Nato is having problems procuring 100 new tanks.
Russia has 1600 rolling off the assembly lines.
As for shells, Nato is out;
Russia is producing them by the millions.
David N. Tate
September 3, 2023 at 8:16 am
Cheburator. There are some folks who believe that the “purchasing power” is different. It isn’t. All programs have the triple contraint of cost, schedule, and quality. Low cost and fast deliverables normally equates to reduced quality. So, the weapons systems that the United States and her allies produce have far more capability than anything the Russians or North Koreans can produce. So, the United States and her allies spend well over $1.2 Trillion annually on defense.
The Russians and North Koreans, combined, spend less than $80 Billion annually on defense. The United States and her allies spend well over ten times the amount on weapons and capability. The proof is in the pudding. The United States, European Union, and NATO are taking the Russian military apart using the Ukraine as a proxy. The Russians are clearly struggling to defend themselves.
NATO is the most powerful military alliance on Earth, or in history, for that matter. The US military coalition in the Western Pacific is the second most powerful military alliance on Earth, or in history.
The Russians are no threat to the US, EU, NATO, and Ukrainian military alliance. The fact is that the US, EU, NATO, and the Ukraine are capable of overpowering the Russian Federation through extended combat. Remember this little was has been on-going since the US supported the Ukrainian “Maidan Revolution” back in 2014. So, yes, the probability is that the US, EU, NATO, and Ukrainian military coalition will prevail. This alliance is overpowering the Russians.
David N. Tate
September 3, 2023 at 8:30 am
George Gordon Bryan. The United States generates over $20 Trillion in annual GDP. The European Union generates over $19 Trillion in annual GDP. Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Australia add an additional $10 Trillion in annual GDP. This, taken together equates to well over 50% of Global GDP which is around $89 Trillion. The Russian Federation generates under $2 Trillion of annual GDP. That equates to less than 5% of GDP. This massive US and allied GDP allows the US, EU, and others to spend well over $1.2 Trillion annually on defense. There is no way for the Russians to match this level of defense spending.
Here is another interesting note. The US and EU, combined, have a population that exceeds 800 million people. The Russian Federation includes less than 150 million people.
And yes, the US State Department would love to dismember the Russian Federation. Read Foreign Policy Magazine and other State Deparment publications and statements.
The data is very clear. Russia is not a real threat to the United States or the European Union. The US, EU and NATO have no real threats in Europe, Central Asia, Africa, or the Middle East.
David N. Tate
September 3, 2023 at 8:38 am
Joe Comment. The answer to the first three question is yes. I have visited the European Union. Yes I have read US policy statements and understand US stated war aims. Yes I understand how the war in the Ukraine is progressing. Joe Biden stated that the Russians had already lost the war in the Ukraine at the NATO meeting last month. I agree with him.
The answer to the final question is no. I understand the current geopolitical situation in Europe. Brussels (EU and NATO) see an opportunity for the EU President to bring Europe under a single political and military banner from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Ural Mountains and beyond into Central Asia. This isn’t the first time that European leaders have expressed such an intention. This time, I suspect that it will happen.
David N. Tate
September 3, 2023 at 8:48 am
Webej. Of course the Russians spend money on defense. To think that the Russians and North Koreans generate weapons systems without spending any money could be a form of “magical thinking.” We can’t just “hand wave” away economic realities.
The Russian defense industry is capable of producing 200 main battle tanks on an annualized basis. The US and her NATO allies can produce or remanufacture more than 200 main battle tanks annually. The US and her NATO allies are producing everything that the Ukraine needs to conduct combat operations. We see, for example, the US and her NATO allies replacing the old Ukrainian T64s, T72s, and BMPs with NATO standard main battle tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.
No the US and NATO are not “out of ammunition.” That is political hyperbole to cover the use of controversial cluster munitions. Neither the US nor NATO have expended all of their ammo. Our flag officers are not that incompetent. Aside from that, the US has been producing ammo at an increased rate since the start of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). These production lines are already “hot” and production is being expanded. The Europeans have plenty of weapons sytems.