According to WP journalists, the DPRK could transfer 1.6 million artillery ammunition to Russia during the last 6 months.
Points of attention
- The DPRK has reportedly transferred over 1.5 million artillery ammunition to Russia in the past 6 months, potentially aiding Russia's activities in Ukraine.
- Analysts suggest that North Korea's military-industrial complex focuses on quantity over quality, with a strong emphasis on Soviet tanks and barrel artillery modernizations.
- The supply of mortars and explosives from the DPRK to Russia could pose a serious threat to international security and aid Russia in its military operations.
- The DPRK's military assistance to Russia highlights a strategic alliance between the two countries, potentially fueled by a 'comprehensive partnership' agreement between their leaders.
- The potential transfer of additional weapons like anti-aircraft missiles and rocket mortars from North Korea to Russia raises concerns about the escalation of conflicts and the impact on global stability.
What is known about the amount of military aid provided by the DPRK to Russia
According to the publication with reference to the data of the non-profit organization on global security issues C4ADS, from August 2023 to January 2024, more than 74 thousand metric tons of explosives arrived from the DPRK to Russia.
Cargo was transported from two ports in the Far East of Russia to 16 facilities, mostly located along the western borders near Ukraine.
It is noted that the determined weight is equivalent to 1.6 million artillery ammunition of the exact type that the occupation army of the Russian Federation uses in the criminal war unleashed by the Kremlin.
C4ADS analysts emphasize that at the facilities where the cargoes arrived from the DPRK, their contents were marked as ammunition, although the documents indicated that they were explosive substances.
According to the journalists of the publication, due to the rapid depletion of its own artillery shells, Russia is forced to rely on its allies, while the DPRK, in conditions of isolation, is interested in making money.
The "comprehensive partnership" agreement between the Russian and North Korean dictators provides a formal basis for the supply of ammunition from the DPRK to Russia.
The publication adds that Kim Jong Un provides the strongest support for Vladimir Putin among all world leaders.
What other weapons can North Korea transfer to Russia
According to military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko in a comment on Oboz.ua, North Korea's military-industrial complex produces products whose production is based on samples of old Soviet equipment.
The emphasis is not on quality, but rather on quantity.
One gets the impression that DPRK products do not pass the stage of technical control at all, and when they are created, technological processes that ensure quality and reliability are not followed. But there are many of these products, the analyst emphasizes.
Kovalenko emphasized that about 2,000 Soviet T-54/55 tanks are in service with the North Korean army.
In addition, the North Korean army also has more than 2 thousand T-62 tanks of various modifications.
In the DPRK, the process of building tanks, as the analyst emphasizes, represents numerous modernizations and modifications of the Soviet T-62 tanks.
In this process, as Kovalenko noted, North Korean engineers and technicians were significantly ahead of the Russians.
For example, the tanks of the M-2020 version, which received a turret placement of BC and ejection panels.
In addition, the tower is covered by a complex of active protection, which precisely protects against RPG-7 shots.
Kovalenko also noted that the North Korean army has up to 3,500 wheeled and tracked anti-aircraft missiles.
They were mainly created on the basis of BTR-60 and BTR-80, as well as MT-LB.
At the same time, it is precisely with BBM that the Russian occupying forces currently have the most acute shortage.
The DPRK has a large line of 152-mm and 122-mm barrel artillery, which the Russians now urgently need, 122-mm anti-aircraft guns - analogues of the BM-21 "Grad" and more than 10,000 mortars of 120-mm, 82-mm caliber, etc.
But most of all, Russia will receive mortars, which, according to Kovalenko, are indispensable for supporting assault groups, as well as for countering assaults of the "meat wave" format.
It will be a very big problem for us if ROVs are strengthened by this toolkit. And they will be, since in the batches transferred to Russia from the DPRK, mines for mortars had the largest component - according to the most modest calculations, up to two million, - warns the analyst.
It is also possible that Russia may ask for 107-mm Type-63 rocket mortars, of which the DPRK has at least 4,000, according to open data only.
