WASHINGTON – The United States is anxious that North Korea is planning to ship extra weapons to Russia, a US State Department spokesperson stated on Monday after North Korean chief Kim Jong Un vowed to bolster strategic cooperation with Moscow.
Earlier on Monday, North Korea’s KCNA state news company stated Kim made the pledge in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin marking Russia’s National Day.
Kim known as for “closer strategic cooperation” with Moscow, “holding hands firmly with the Russian president, in conformity with the common desire of the peoples of the two countries to fulfil the grand goal of building a powerful country,” KCNA stated.
The State Department spokesperson stated that regardless of Pyongyang’s denials that it had offered weapons to Russia for its warfare in Ukraine, the United States had confirmed North Korea had accomplished an arms supply, together with infantry rockets and missiles, to the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenary group in November 2022.
“We are concerned that the DPRK is planning to deliver more military equipment to Russia,” the spokesperson added, utilizing the initials of North Korea’s official title.
North Korea has sought to forge nearer ties with the Kremlin and backed Moscow after it invaded Ukraine final 12 months, blaming the “hegemonic policy” and “high-handedness” of the United States and the West.
The United States stated in March it had new data that Russia was actively looking for to amass extra weapons from North Korea in trade for meals help.
In March, Washington imposed sanctions on a Slovakian man it stated had tried to rearrange the sale of over two dozen kinds of North Korean weapons and munitions to Russia to assist Moscow change army tools misplaced in its warfare with Ukraine. —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
