North Korea has sent close to five million artillery shells to Russia

Russia has received nearly 5 million artillery shells from North Korea since Vladimir Putin sought out military assistance from Pyongyang according to the South Korean Minister of Defense. 

During an interview with Bloomberg News, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik stated that Moscow has received roughly 10,000 shipping containers from its North Korean allies.

Won-sik also noted that the shipping containers could have held as many as 4.8 million artillery shells that the Russian Armed Forces have employed to attack targets inside Ukrainian territory. 

“Putin is expected to seek closer security cooperation with North Korea,” the South Korean Defense Minister explained to Bloomberg, adding Putin was hoping to get more artillery shells that Russian forces need to “seize a chance to win.”

North Korea has also sent Russia dozens of ballistic missiles to help Moscow achieve a win against Ukraine, this is something the United States has confirmed and reported on ever since the first North Korean missiles were used in Ukraine. 

As recently as May 30th, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency has asserted that Russia is receiving ballistic missiles and artillery shells from North Korea and they have been used against Ukraine according to Reuters. 

A report from the Defense Intelligence Agency revealed debris confirmed North Korean solid-propellent short-range ballistic missiles were used by Russia in Ukraine in January 2024 in the Kharkiv region. 

"Analysis confirms that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine. North Korean missile debris was found throughout Ukraine," a Defense Intelligence Agency statement accompanying the report noted. 

In February 2024, reports began to emerge that as many as half the then roughly one million artillery shells thought to have been shipped to Ukraine were faulty or didn’t work based on comments from Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR). 

"Today, if we take the available statistical data, the Russians have already imported 1.5 million rounds of ammunition from the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]," the Deputy Head of the GUR Vadym Skibitsky explained according to Newsweek. 

"But these munitions are from the 70s and 80s. Half of them do not function, and the rest require either restoration or inspection before use," Skibitsky added. However, despite the faulty shells, North Korea has gained something in return for its help. 

Bloomberg News reported that Russia was providing the North Koreans with technology to help the hermit kingdom in its plans to develop and launch spy satellites into orbit. 

Moscow is also helping Pyongyang by providing technology to advance the North Korean military’s conventional arms, including tanks and aircraft according to Bloomberg News. 

“North Korea is ignoring its people’s hardships to carry out missile provocations,” Shin told Bloomberg News about Pyongyang’s ongoing missile program costs. “The money is enough to cover North Korea’s food shortages for a year.”

Kim is spending a lot of money on its missile program according to Bloomberg News, which reported that missile tests alone cost Pyongyang $1 billion dollars, or 4% of the North Korean economy.

Won-sik’s comments were published just days before Putin was scheduled to Visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea, the first time the Russian President has visited his allies since July 2000 according to the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo.

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