On Sunday, North Korea denied providing weapons to Moscow after the United States said the nuclear-armed state supplied missiles and rockets to Russia’s private military group Wagner.
Earlier this month, Washington designated the Wagner group as a “transnational criminal organization,” citing its arms deals with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The White House has shown US intelligence photos of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of anti-personnel missiles and rockets and returning to Russia, according to national security spokesman John Kirby.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a senior North Korean official rejected the accusations, warning that the US would face a “really undesirable outcome” if it continued to spread the “self-created rumour”.
“I’m trying to tarnish the image of [North Korea] fabricating something that does not exist is a serious provocation that can never be allowed and that cannot fail to provoke its reaction,” said Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the US Department of Affairs.
He also called it a “stupid attempt to justify his offer of arms to Ukraine.”
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden pledged 31 Abrams tanks, one of the most powerful and sophisticated weapons in the US military, to help Kyiv fight off Moscow’s encroachment.
The move drew rebukes on Friday from Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who accused Washington of “further crossing the red line” by sending the tanks into Ukraine.
Along with China, Russia is one of North Korea’s few international friends and has previously come to the aid of the regime.
Besides Syria and Russia, North Korea is the only country to recognize the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk, two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, has long opposed increasing pressure on nuclear-armed North Korea, even seeking relief from international sanctions on humanitarian grounds.
Kim Jong Un declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear state in September, and the country conducted weapons tests in violation of sanctions almost every month last year – including the launch of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile.
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