Page 218 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

Moscow and Pyongyang revolve around North Korea’s ability
to help meet Russia’s dire need for munitions to sustain its
invasion of Ukraine. Simultaneously there is the opportunity
the opportunity for North Korea to consolidate its strategic
alignment with Russia as a provider of both cash and
materials necessary to attain many of North Korea’s military
development goals.

The Russia-North Korea relationship has historically been
limited by narrow transactional aims on both sides, but in the
case of the war in Ukraine it appears that the convergence
of transactional interests is growing rapidly in scope and
will likely endure for some time. The initial North Korean
supply of aged stockpiles of 152-millimeter ammunition of
dubious quality has grown in size as such artillery has proven
useful to Russia in the conflict. The supply of munitions has
expanded in recent months to thousands of containers from
North Korea’s Rajin port to ports in the Russian Far East
for transshipment across Russia to Ukraine. At the end of
December and beginning of January, U.S. media reported
that North Korea provided short-range ballistic missiles
(SRBMs) that were used in Ukraine, representing a significant
expansion of the scope of North Korean supply to include
some of its newer military weaponry.

There has been a wide range of speculation about what Russia
is willing to supply to North Korea in exchange for munitions
and short-range ballistic missiles. Reports surrounding
initial exchanges with North Korea included horses and
wheat, but now most likely also includes cash, military spare
parts, surface-to-air missiles and components, and possibly

218 Section III : South Korea-Japan-U.S. Cooperation: How to Deter Pyongyang and Dissuade Beijing