UK sends UN experts photos of alleged North Korean missile and shell shipments to Russia
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London has provided a UN expert panel with satellite photos of North Korean cargo shipments to Russia, as part of an attempt to trigger an official investigation into arms deals in violation of international sanctions, The Guardian newspaper reported on Jan. 22, citing an unpublished UK defense intelligence report.
Satellite photos taken between September and December depict three Russian ships, the Maia, Angara, and the Maria, loading containers at North Korea’s Najin port before transiting to Russian ports in the Far East. While the agency said it could not identify what was in the containers, it followed a recent U.S. announcement that ballistic missiles from North Korea have recently been used by Russia against Ukraine.
All three ships have been sanctioned by the U.S. government since 2022 for their ties to the Russian Defense Ministry's shipping company, Oboronlogistika OOO, which "has been involved in Russia's illegal seizure and occupation of Crimea since 2014, as well as private Russian maritime shipping companies that transport weapons and other military equipment” for the Russian government.
Two of the three ships were also identified in a recent report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, which showed increased transshipments from North Korea to Russia. RUSI concluded that “Russia has likely begun shipping North Korean munitions at scale.”
The third ship was identified by NK News, an independent news website focusing on North Korea, as “part of a group of commercial vessels that have completed multiple deliveries of military equipment and ammunition provided by the DPRK to Russia.”
The UK report, along with evidence furnished by the United States and other countries, was provided to a UN panel on North Korean proliferation, which is expected next month to publish its first final report since North Korean accelerated shipments of ammunition to Russia this year.
North Korea has been accused of supplying ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Russia following Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Kim Jong-un in September.
According to Defense Express, Moscow may have received KN-23 ballistic missiles, which are similar to the Russian Iskander-M, from Pyongyang. Meanwhile,U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Russia likely struck Ukraine with North Korean ballistic missiles on Dec. 30, 2023, and Jan. 2 and 6, 2024.
South Korea's representative to the UN, Hwang Joon-kook, said that North Korea is using Ukraine as a "testing ground" for ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
North Korea is the largest supplier of weapons to Russia, chief of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Jan. 21.
North Korea called the U.S. accusations of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for the war against Ukraine "groundless."
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