North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday called US accusations that Pyongyang was supplying artillery ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine “baseless,” North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported.
Tensions are running high on the Korean peninsula after a series of North Korean weapons tests last week, as the United States and South Korea have just completed their largest joint air exercises there.
Pyongyang’s denial follows accusations made last week by White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. He claimed that North Korea was sending a “significant number” of projectiles to Russia “covertly,” “trying to make it look like they were being sent to the Middle East or Africa.”
The spokesman said that Washington is currently trying to find out whether this North Korean military aid has indeed been received by the Russians.
“There have never been ‘arms contracts'”
“Recently, the United States persists in spreading an unfounded rumor of ‘arms deals’ between the DPRK and Russia,” read a statement from the deputy director of Military Foreign Affairs of the North Korean Ministry of National Defense by the KCNA agency.
“Once again, we want to make it clear that there have never been ‘arms contracts’ with Russia and that we do not foresee any in the future,” the press release adds, seeing in this “rumor” a “hostile attempt to tarnish the image of the DPRK in the international arena”.
John Kirby added last week that he “doesn’t think the team that (Russian President Vladimir Putin) is receiving or will receive is a real game-changer on the battlefield.”
He also considered that the alleged help from North Korea was indicative of Pyongyang’s options, but also of Russia’s “scarcity and needs”.
Source: BFM TV
