Russia Gave Anti-Air Missiles to North Korea in Exchange for Troops in Ukraine War: Seoul

In a photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik,Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui before talks in Moscow on Nov. 4, 2024. Mikhail Tereshchenko/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

South Korea’s national security adviser claims that Russia supplied North Korea with anti-air missiles and air defense gear in exchange for troops aiding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

In an interview with the national broadcaster SBS that was aired on Friday, South Korean national security adviser Shin Won-sik said Russia had given North Korea economic and military technology support.

“It is understood that North Korea has been provided with related equipment and anti-aircraft missiles to strengthen Pyongyang’s weak air defense system,” Shin said.

Troops

The comments came amid close military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, and amid assertions that North Korea sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine.

South Korean lawmakers, citing the country’s spy agency, said this week that around 10,900 North Korean troops had been deployed to Kursk as part of Russia’s airborne and marine units facing Ukrainian forces.

North Korea has also shipped additional arms for the war in Ukraine, including self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers, parliament intelligence committee member Lee Seong-kweun told reporters, citing the National Intelligence Service.

Last month, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Russia for talks.

Russian news agency Tass said that the visit was part of a strategic dialogue agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during Putin’s state visit to Pyongyang in June.

Escalation

Last month, NATO confirmed that North Korean troops had been sent to Russia to aid in its war against Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a statement on Oct. 28 that the move represents “a significant escalation” in North Korea’s involvement in the conflict and marks “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war.”

Washington hasn’t officially confirmed that it has permitted Ukraine to now conduct long-range strikes on Russia, but the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Nov. 19 that Ukrainian forces had fired at least six U.S.-made MGM-140 army tactical missile system ballistic missiles at its Bryansk region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed on Nov. 21 that its forces had downed two UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles fired into its territory from Ukraine. British Secretary of State for Defence John Healey has declined to comment on “operational details of the conflict.”

Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Nov. 21, 2024. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk region/Handout via Reuters

Putin said on Nov. 21 that Russian forces used a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) to strike targets in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, in a televised address in Moscow.

He said the MRBM is a new missile model that Russian forces have dubbed “Oreshnik.” He said the missile was armed with a non-nuclear payload.

Putin

On Nov. 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the new ballistic missile that Putin used struck the city of Dnipro, one of Ukraine’s largest cities.

He said that “this is already Russia’s second step toward escalation this year.”

“The first was involving North Korea in the war against Ukraine with a contingent of at least 11,000 soldiers,” he said.

“Putin must feel the cost of his deranged ambitions. Response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength.”

Putin has warned that he views long-range strikes inside Russia as a significant escalation in the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.

He also signed a new doctrine this week lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons—meaning that an attack on Russia by any nation using conventional missiles supplied by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack.

“In response to the use of U.S. and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” Putin said on Nov. 21.

Ryan Morgan, Adam Morrow, and Reuters contributed to this report