North Korea and Russia have significantly expanded military, political, and economic cooperation in 2024, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The DPRK supplies Russia with weapons, missiles, and artillery, and has sent more than 11 000 troops to support the war in Ukraine. In return, Moscow provides Pyongyang with air defense systems, trains its troops, and supplies prohibited amounts of petroleum products.
This is reported by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Group (MSMT), which has published its first report on cooperation between the DPRK and Russia. This is being monitored in the context of compliance with UN sanctions against the DPRK.
In 2024, Russia received up to 9 million artillery and rocket munitions and 11 000 military personnel from North Korea. Meanwhile, Moscow sent air defense systems, anti-aircraft missiles, modern electronic warfare equipment, and refined oil to the DPRK without proper reporting. The transfer of weapons between the DPRK and Russia violates the embargo established by UN resolutions. The fact that the Russians trained the North Korean military is also a violation.
Since September 2023, the DPRK has transferred to Russia more than 20 000 containers of ammunition for a full-scale war against Ukraine. The containers contained shells of calibers 82, 122, 130, 152 and 170 mm. In addition, in 2024, Moscow received at least 100 North Korean ballistic missiles and used them to strike civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and other cities.
The monitoring group also found that Pyongyang had given Russia more than 200 pieces of equipment, including self-propelled guns, multiple launch rocket systems, reloading vehicles, and Bulsae-4 anti-tank missiles and RPGs. Experts saw signs that the accuracy of North Koreaʼs missiles had increased as the Russians tested them in real strikes on Ukraine.
The British organization Conflict Armament Research has confirmed that some of the missiles used by Russia to attack Ukraine in 2024 were manufactured in North Korea. Analysis of missile fragments in Kharkiv, Bila Tserkva and other cities showed characteristic signs of North Korean production. All missiles were identified as Hwasong-11A or Hwasong-11B, some of them manufactured in 2024.
All of this military cooperation violates UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting arms transfers, training, and support from the DPRK.
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