Kim Jong-un has sent one million shells to Russia in exchange for help launching its spy satellite, South Korea has suggested.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that North Korea had sent enough artillery rounds to last Russia two months.
“North Korea is running its munition factories to full capacity to meet the demand for military supplies to Russia, even mobilising residents and civilian factories to make ammunition boxes,” said Yoo Sang-bum, a South Korean MP, after a closed-door NIS briefing.
Russia, in turn, is helping North Korea to launch a spy satellite after two failed attempts.
The NIS said Pyongyang is planning to launch a satellite soon and Russia’s technical support means this attempt will likely be more successful than the last.
“It appears that North Korea received technical advice from Russia, so we are expecting a higher rate of success,” Mr Yoo said.
He added that North Korea wanted to import Russian warplanes and that a North Korean specialist artillery team had visited Russia last month.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, travelled to Pyongyang last month to pledge the Kremlin’s “complete support” to the North Korean leader.
Russian technical satellite assistance
In September, Kim travelled to far east Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin and tour a cosmodrome launch site.
Although the Kremlin’s first mission to the moon for nearly 50 years failed in August, Russia’s reputation as a space race pioneer remains in Pyongyang.
South Korean officials have confirmed that North Korea has received Russian technical satellite assistance.
As well as cutting deals with the West’s enemies for arms supplies, the Kremlin has steeled Russians for a long war in Ukraine and has shifted the Russian economy on to a war footing. This has undermined the civilian economy by pushing up inflation, weakening the rouble and triggering a jump in interest rates, but it has also given Russian arms production a boost.
On Wednesday, Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russia’s state military-industrial complex, said that Russia’s tank production has increased by 700 per cent and armoured vehicle production has risen by 450 per cent this year.
“We are constantly upgrading our equipment,” he told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Ukraine is reliant on Western supplies for its artillery and vehicle supplies but is increasingly worried that the Gaza-Israel war will distract its Nato allies and divert funding from its 20-month-long war against Russia.