SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has delivered approximately 1 million artillery shells to Russia to aid its war against neighboring Ukraine and is on the verge of a third attempt to place a reconnaissance satellite into orbit, according to the South Korean National Intelligence Service.
The NIS delivered the information in a closed-door briefing to lawmakers. The findings were made public Wednesday by lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party.
Such leaks of intelligence findings, which have sometimes sparked concern among Seoul’s allies, are common in South Korea.
The missile shipments are the latest signs of an emerging axis between North Korea and Russia, fueled by a string of high-level contacts. The warming military relationship between Kim Jong-un’s North Korea and Russia under President Vladimir Putin has unnerved officials in Washington and Seoul.
Russia, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, denies it has violated numerous U.N. sanctions on North Korea’s nuclear and conventional military programs.
South Korean officials think Russia could supply food, fuel and sophisticated military technologies, including those linked to satellites and submarines, in a barter deal for North Korean weapons, munitions and possibly labor.
North Korea has twice failed with satellite launch attempts this year. The clash in Ukraine, which is being watched closely across East Asia, has made clear the military importance of satellite oversight and data-networked weapons systems, such as drones and long-range artillery and missiles.
Mr. Kim met with Mr. Putin on Sept. 13 at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East. That site is used exclusively for launches of unmanned satellites.
North Korea is believed to maintain huge ammunition stockpiles that could work with Russian armaments. Russian military doctrine heavily emphasizes artillery, and 1 million shells would supply Russian guns for two months of fighting, Mr. Yoo said.
The South Korean intelligence builds on satellite imagery last month from the White House and open-source intelligence groups showing expanding rail and sea traffic between North Korea and Russia. Closed shipping containers from those transits were later spotted in Tikhoretsk, a Russian depot near the Ukrainian theater.
Russian forces in Ukraine have been fighting with renewed vigor since Mr. Kim’s meetings with Mr. Putin and other Russian officials, including Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. After weathering Ukraine’s summer offensive for months, Russian forces are engaged in counterattacks, including a campaign against the fortified Ukrainian-held town of Avdiivka in Donetsk oblast.
The strength of the move led the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, which has carefully tracked the fighting in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, to revise its risk analyses of the conflict.
Ukrainian forces in the area are in a deep salient, enclosed on three sides. The institute noted Tuesday that Russia “continued offensive operations near Avdiivka on October 31 and made confirmed advances.”
The only evidence of North Korean arms on the battlefield so far has been a single multiple-launch rocket system in use by Ukrainian troops.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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