Russia is using North Korean artillery shells in its invasion of Ukraine that may have been made in the 1970s, South Korean media reported.
South Korean intelligence, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told news agency Yonhap that it’s reviewing reports that North Korea has supplied its ally Russia with weapons made five decades ago.
“The NIS is analyzing the relevant circumstance in detail and also continues to track overall military cooperation between North Korea and Russia,” the spy agency said.
Ukraine, the US, and the UN have all accused North Korea of handing Russia millions of shells and other weapons that are being used in its campaign in Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine are firing tens of thousands of shells a day in what has become a grinding attritional campaign.
Russia is boosting the number of shells it is capable of producing domestically to keep up with demand, but in the meantime, it has turned to ally North Korea for help.
According to a report by the US Congress earlier in May, North Korea provided “10,000 shipping containers of ammunition or related materials (potentially containing more than 3 million rounds of artillery ammunition) to Russia since October 2023.”
But Ukrainian officials in December said the North Korean shells are often defective and have blown up before being fired, damaging Russian artillery and mortars and even killing troops.
Russia has also used North Korean ballistic missiles to target Ukrainian cities, but according to a Ukrainian official earlier in May, about half of them fly off course.
The NIS, Yonhap reported, also said that it is monitoring the illicit shipment of missile parts to North Korea amid concerns it’s using them to build new weapons.
