Russia Expands Military Cooperation with North Korea

Russia has agreed to help North Korea set up sites on the divided peninsula to manufacture Iranian-designed Shahed drones, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official has said.

Why It Matters

North Korea is heavily supported by Russia and China, and last year became the first country besides Russia and Ukraine to commit combat troops to the war in Eastern Europe. North Korea has also been a major contributor of ammunition and missiles to Russia’s war effort.

International watchers believe Pyongyang is, or will be, receiving economic aid and a hand-up with its weapons development programs, including submarines and ballistic missiles, from Moscow in exchange for munitions, missiles and troops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced a mutual defense pact in June last year, which was signed in November.

What To Know

Russia has agreed to help North Korea set up sites on the divided peninsula to manufacture Iranian-designed Shahed drones, said Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence agency.

“It will for sure bring changes in the military balance in the region between North Korea and South Korea,” the intelligence chief told The War Zone.

“This is gravely concerning,” William Alberque, a visiting fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center and a former director of NATO’s Arms Control, Disarmament and WMD Non-Proliferation Center, told Newsweek.

Cooperation between Pyongyang, Moscow and Tehran on drones will likely equip North Korea with “thousands, and then tens of thousands, of attack drones ready for combat, tested in battle, and incorporated into doctrine,” Alberque said.

Seoul would benefit from working closely with Kyiv and NATO member states to develop new ways to shield South Korea’s airspace and critical infrastructure from its northern neighbor, he added.

Newsweek has reached out to the South Korean embassy in the United Kingdom for comment via email.

Shahed drones have plagued Ukraine’s air defenses since the early months of the full-scale war, launched by Russia in February 2022. While slow-moving, the uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as Geran drones, are hard for Ukraine’s overworked air defenses to detect.

The drones are known for their distinctive, low buzzing sound, and can carry warheads that shatter or explode when the UAV reaches its target.

Russia quickly established sites to pump out the Iranian-designed drones on Russian soil. The GUR told Ukrainian media earlier this month that Moscow was capable of producing roughly 170 new drones each day.

Russia launched 315 Shahed drones and two of North Korea’s KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said early on Tuesday.

Moscow has used North Korean-made ballistic missiles frequently when targeting Ukraine. Experts say that Russia wielding these missiles in combat can reveal details about opaque weapons development in North Korea, but will also allow Pyongyang to tweak and improve its missiles.

North Korea has recast South Korea as its “principal enemy,” officially moving away from the long-held goal of reunification. The countries have remained technically at war since an armistice agreement signaled the end of the Korean War in 1953.

What People Are Saying

The U.S. State Department said last week that Russian support for North Korea “must end” after Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former defense minister now serving as the secretary of Russia’s security council, visited the secretive nation’s capital.

North Korea’s state news agency said in a readout that Moscow and Pyongyang agreed to “dynamically expand and develop” relations and deepen the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

What Happens Next

Kim reassured Shoigu that North Korea would “unconditionally support” Russian foreign policy, including on Ukraine, state media reported.