The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong- UN has again denied that Pyongyang supplies weapons to Russia, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA, referring to the North Korean news agency KCTA.
The US and South Korea have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. Both Moscow and Pyongyang deny the allegations, but last year they announced they would deepen their military relationship. Relations between the two countries have strengthened dramatically since last September's visit by Kim Jong-un to the Russian Far East and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Kim Yo-chen - the leader's sister - however said that the allegations of an arms deal between North Korea and Russia are a collection of prejudices and fabrications and are a "extremely absurd theory" that does not deserve evaluations or interpretations as it is only a false rumor spread by hostile forces.
Kim Yo-chen emphasized that the weapons developed by North Korea are not intended for export, but for defense against South Korea.
North and South Korea technically remain at war, as the 1950-1953 armed conflict between them ended not with a treaty but with an armistice, Reuters recalls.
Meanwhile, the US announced new sanctions yesterday against two Russian individuals and three companies for facilitating the transfer of arms between Russia and North Korea, including ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
According to a report by UN sanctions monitors presented to a Security Council committee, the debris that fell in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2 was from a North Korean ballistic missile of the Hwasong-11 series (Hwasong-11). .
The leaders of China and Russia - Pyongyang's main partners - met yesterday and criticized Washington and its allies for the "intimidation they carry out in the military sphere" against North Korea, stated a joint statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Against the background of the strengthening partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang, North Korea's ambassador to Russia yesterday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a puppet of the United States and said that Russia will emerge victorious from its conflict with Kiev, KCTA reported.