In March, Russia vetoed a routine resolution to extend the mandate of the U.N. Panel of Experts. Moscow’s decision to end the primary U.N. body responsible for investigating U.N. sanctions violations should erase any doubt about Russia’s willingness to violate sanctions to aid its war effort in Ukraine. It should also end any belief that Moscow is a partner for peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Since the Kim-Putin summit in September 2023, North Korea has shipped over 6,700 weapons containers to Russia in violation of U.N. sanctions. According to South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense, these containers could hold approximately 3 million rounds of 152mm artillery shells or 500,000 rounds of 122mm multiple rocket launchers. North Korean ballistic missiles have also been found on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Estimates suggest that Russia is firing five times as many artillery rounds as Ukraine, with North Korean supplies a significant contributor to Russia’s advantage. NATO estimates that Russia is producing 250,000 artillery rounds a month, or around 3 million a year. In less than six months, North Korea doubled what Russia can produce in a single year. Without North Korean support, Russia’s battlefield advantage would be closer to 2.5 times that of Ukraine.
North Korea is supplying munitions to Russia with the clear calculation that it will in turn benefit from Russian........