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According to Ukraine’s top military intelligence official, Russia is assisting North Korea in modernizing its nuclear weapons delivery systems. This revelation could reinforce long-standing suspicions among U.S. and South Korean officials that North Korea has been receiving technical support from Russia in exchange for providing troops and weapons to bolster Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Newsweek has contacted the North Korean Embassy in Beijing and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment via written requests.
### Why It Matters
Last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin deepened military cooperation with a defense pact that raised alarm in Western capitals. The deployment of an estimated 11,000 North Korean troops to join Russian forces fighting in the Kursk region late last year further escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim continues to expand his United Nations-sanctioned nuclear program and test increasingly advanced ballistic missiles—justifying the moves as responses to “provocations” from Washington and its allies.
### What To Know
Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, told local media that while Russia was unlikely to assist Iran in building nuclear weapons, technical support to North Korea was already underway.
“I can say this directly. As for North Korea, the situation is quite difficult. First of all, North Korea already has nuclear weapons, but the Russian Federation is helping it modernize its nuclear weapons carriers,” Budanov said.
Last month, he stated that the Kim regime had acquired Russia’s Pantsir-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft system and was deploying it to defend the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
### What People Are Saying
**Kim Yo Jong**, sister of Kim Jong Un and vice chair of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said in a July 28 statement: “Any attempt to deny our country’s status as a nuclear power, which has been established with the existence of a strong nuclear deterrent and adhered to as the supreme law by the consensus of the entire Korean people, will be thoroughly rejected.”
**Shravishtha Ajaykumar**, an associate fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology in New Delhi, wrote: “The proliferation of nuclear technology, particularly with implicit backing from a global power, threatens to destabilize regions far beyond the Koreas. It creates an environment where international treaties become formalities lacking enforcement or consequence.”
### What Happens Next
The Kim regime has rebuffed reported efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to arrange an in-person summit with North Korea’s leader. Trump met with Kim three times during his first term in an unsuccessful bid to persuade Pyongyang to scale back its nuclear weapons program.
However, analysts say any future talks are likely to be limited in scope and unlikely to lead to full denuclearization, as North Korea has formally enshrined its nuclear weapons status in its constitution and has repeatedly declared the program nonnegotiable.
📚 Reading Comprehension Quiz
According to Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, which country is receiving technical support from Russia in modernizing its nuclear weapons delivery systems?
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