Russia Supplies Antiaircraft Missiles to North Korea, the South Says

Pyongyang has long coveted an advanced air-defense system to guard against missiles and war planes from the United States and South Korea.

Russia has supplied North Korea with antiaircraft missiles in return for the deployment of its troops ​to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s national security adviser said on Friday.​

In recent weeks, North Korea has sent an estimated 1​1,000 troops, some of whom have joined Russian forces in their fight to retake territories occupied by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, according to South Korean and United States officials. It has also sent close to 20,000 shipping containers of weapons to Russia since the summer of 2023, including artillery guns and shells, short-range ballistic missiles and multiple-rocket launchers, South Korean officials have said.

In return, North Korea has been widely expected to seek Russian help in modernizing its conventional armed forces and advancing its nuclear​ weapons program and missiles. One of the ​biggest weaknesses of the North Korean military ​has been its poor​, outdated air defense system, while the United States and its allies in South Korea and Japan run fleets of high-tech war planes, ​including F-35 stealth fighter jets.

“We understand that Russia has provided related equipment and anti-air missiles to shore up the poor air defense for Pyongyang,” the North Korean capital, ​South Korea’s national security adviser​, Shin Won-shik, ​said in an interview with SBS-TV on Friday.

The cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow came as Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, continued to stoke confrontational rhetoric against the United States and South Korea. In a speech at a military exhibition on Thursday that was reported by state media, Mr. Kim warned that the Korean Peninsula has never faced such risks of nuclear war as now, blaming the tensions on Washington’s “aggressive and hostile” policy.

Mr. Shin said Russia was also supplying other military technology to North Korea, including help to improve North Korea’s satellite-launch programs.​ After two failed attempts, North Korea placed its first spy satellite into or​bit last November​, triggering speculation that Russia was behind the success. But in May, a North Korean rocket carrying another military reconnaissance satellite into orbit exploded midair shortly after takeoff.

Mr. Shin added that North Korea was suspected of getting economic help as well. Russia has likely shipped more than a million barrels of oil to North Korea over an eight-month period this year, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, according to an analysis of satellite imagery published on Friday by the UK-based Open Source Center and the BBC.

Earlier this week, Mr. Kim met with Alexander Kozlov, Russia’s minister of natural resources and ecology who led a government delegation to Pyongyang. During the meeting, Mr. Kim noted that “the bilateral solidarity and cooperation have been closer and deepened in different fields” since he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a treaty of mutual defense and military cooperation in Pyongyang in June, North Korean state media reported.

Mr. Kim called for “further promoting the intergovernmental trade, economic, scientific and technological exchange and cooperation in a more extensive and diversified way,” state media said.

As an emblem of deepening ties between the two countries, Mr. Putin has sent more than 70 animals to North Korea — including bears, domestic yaks and an African lion — as a gift to the Korean people, according to TASS, a Russian news agency.

The deployment of troops to the Russia-Ukraine war is the first major engagement in an armed conflict by North Korea since the Korean War of 1950-53. It is expected to help the North Korean military gain combat experience and learn about modern warfare.

The move ​also highlights North Korea’s deepening military ties with Russia at a time when the ​Asian country was seeking a partner to counter the growing military cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan​ in northeast Asia.

In his speech Thursday, Mr. Kim seemed skeptical about rekindling diplomatic ties with President-elect Donald J. Trump, saying North Korea had already gone as far as it can with negotiations, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The remark was Mr. Kim’s first on his ill-fated direct diplomacy with Mr. Trump since the former president was re-elected earlier this month.

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

• Anti-Personnel Mines: The Biden administration has approved supplying Ukraine with American anti-personnel mines to bolster defenses against Russian attacks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
• A New Missile?: Russia struck the city of Dnipro with a volley that Ukraine said included an intercontinental ballistic missile. Western officials said an ICBM was not used.
• North Korea and Russia: Russia has supplied North Korea with antiaircraft missiles in return for the deployment of its troops ​to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s national security adviser said.​

How We Verify Our Reporting

• Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.
• We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts.