North Korea considers the US official’s statement in recent weeks “a hostile attempt to tarnish North Korea’s reputation internationally”.
According to North Korea, the claims about the country’s ammunition deliveries to Russia are unfounded, reports the state news agency KCNA.
Spokesman for the National Security Council of the United States White House John Kirby said last week that North Korea secretly sends a significant amount of artillery ammunition to Russia in shipments to the Middle East or Africa.
KCNA cites a statement from a representative of the country’s defense ministry as saying that North Korea views the statement as a “hostile attempt to tarnish North Korea’s reputation internationally” by the United States.
– Once again, we make it clear that we have never had an arms trade with Russia and we have no plans to do so in the future, the statement reads.
Kirby said last week that US officials do not know if the ammunition has reached Russia. According to him, efforts are being made to monitor the broadcasts.
Kirby told reporters that the United States believes that the amount of supplies sent by North Korea will help Russia prolong the war in Ukraine, but not enough to give it an advantage against Western-backed Ukrainian forces.
The situation is tense
In September, North Korea also denied claims made by the White House that the country was planning to send ammunition to replenish the stockpiles of the Russian armed forces.
Kirby said the deliveries were a sign of Russia’s dwindling arms stockpile as international sanctions make it difficult to replenish stockpiles.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been especially tense recently, when North Korea has conducted several missile tests. Last week, the United States and South Korea staged their largest joint air war exercise ever.
The United States and South Korea have warned that North Korea’s recent missile tests could culminate in another nuclear test. It would be North Korea’s seventh in a row.