North Korea has recently supplied Russia with additional artillery systems to support its war against Ukraine, and some North Korean troops stationed in Russia have begun to take part in combat operations, the country's National Intelligence Service told South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday. UNN writes about this with reference to Associated Press.
Details
According to Rep. Lee Sung-kyung, who attended a closed-door meeting in parliament, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that North Korea has exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple launch rocket systems to Russia.
Lee told reporters that, according to the intelligence service, these guns are a type of artillery that the Russian military does not use, so North Korea probably sent personnel to teach the Russians how to use them and conduct maintenance.
Last week, photos were posted on Russian Telegram channels and other social media showing North Korea's 170mm Coxan self-propelled guns being transported by rail to Russia. On Sunday, the Financial Times, citing Ukrainian intelligence, reported that North Korea has sent about 50 domestically produced 170-mm self-propelled howitzers and 20 240-mm multiple launch rocket systems to Russia in recent weeks.
The artillery systems are the latest conventional weapons that North Korea is believed to have provided to Russia.
Last month , the National Intelligence Service reported that North Korea had shipped more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles, and other conventional weapons to Russia since August 2023.
During a briefing on Wednesday, the NIS reported that an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Russia's Kursk region in late October, Lee said. He cited the NIS as saying that North Korean soldiers were sent to Russian marine and airborne units and some of them have already begun fighting alongside Russians on the front lines.
The United States, Ukraine and other countries have similar estimates of the size of the North Korean contingent. They claim that North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in October and that some of them have been involved in fighting in the Kursk region since then. Observers say North Korea's involvement in the nearly three-year-long full-scale war threatens to escalate the conflict.
Park Sun-won, another lawmaker present at the NIS meeting, made similar comments at the briefing. He said that the spy agency could not provide an estimate of possible North Korean casualties.
Доповнення
On Tuesday, Moscow reported that Ukraine had fired six US-made ATACMS missiles at the Bryansk region of Russia, the first use of the weapon by Kyiv on Russian territory. The General Staff did not confirm whether the weapons were used, but said that the armed forces had struck an ammunition depot in the Bryansk region.