Seoul: North Korea has received support from Russia in modernizing its nuclear weapons carriers, a Ukrainian news report has said, amid continued military cooperation between the two countries.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine's military intelligence, made the remark as he drew a comparison between Russia's provision of military technology to North Korea and Iran in a report carried by the news agency Interfax Ukraine on Tuesday. "As for North Korea, the matter is quite difficult here. DPRK already has nuclear weapons, first of all," Budanov was quoted as saying. DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"But Russia helps modernize nuclear weapons carriers. This is actually happening," he said, adding that Russia is unlikely to directly transfer technologies for Iran's nuclear weapons development. Budanov's remark came as North Korea and Russia have been deepening their military alignment through the North's troop deployment and supply of shells and weapons, spawning speculation over Moscow's transfer of sophisticated military technology to Pyongyang.
Last month, Budanov claimed that North Korea has already been using the Pantsir-S1 air defense system provided by Russia to defend its capital of Pyongyang. North Korea and Russia have been bolstering cooperation in a range of areas, including the military and economy, since the North's leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense treaty in June last year.