Yuri Kobzar15:01, 16.04.25

Russia buys not only shells from Pyongyang, but even soldiers and technical assistance.

Complicity in Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine has already brought the North Korean government at least $20 billion in revenue, Newsweek reports, citing a report by the South Korean Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA).

These revenues are astronomical for the North Korean economy. To put that into perspective, according to analysts , North Korea’s GDP in 2023 was about $23 billion. That is, the war in Ukraine brought Pyongyang as much additional revenue as the entire North Korean economy generates in an entire year.

Pyongyang received the most profits from supplying artillery ammunition to Russia, but the decision to send several thousand North Korean soldiers to the front and provide the Russians with some technical support was also profitable.

In return for this assistance, North Korea receives “in-kind and technical assistance” from Russia, including some high-tech weapons, which help strengthen Pyongyang’s military capabilities and advance its strategic goals.

The KIDA report is accompanied by a separate analysis by the Open Source Center (OSC) and Reuters, which found that North Korea sent more than 15,800 containers of ammunition to Russia between August 2023 and March 2025.

“The North Korean flow of munitions presents a significant strategic challenge. By enabling Russia to maintain its offensive momentum, it undermines the effectiveness of Western military assistance to Ukraine. If left unchecked, this flow of weapons could further tilt the battlefield in Moscow’s favor and accelerate broader security risks in Europe and East Asia,” the OSC report said.

Instead, KIDA emphasizes that military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang increases the chances that “Russia will invade the Korean Peninsula if an emergency situation arises.”

(C)UNIAN 2025