Russia may be close to sharing advanced satellite technology with North Korea after the isolated nation supplied troops to help bolster Moscow’s war in Ukraine, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Monday.
“The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now, we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advance space and satellite technology with Pyongyang,” Blinken said from Seoul, using North Korea’s official name.
Blinken is visiting the key US ally as part of his last foreign tour ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration, and his comments came as North Korea test-fired what appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The US’s top diplomat also reiterated an earlier warning by the US ambassador to the United Nations that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be close to accepting North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, reversing its decades-long commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
The US has repeatedly expressed concern over the growing alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow since Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a landmark defense pact in June last year.
Putin’s visit to Pyongyang was widely seen to be about securing ongoing support from Kim for his grinding war in Ukraine as weapons stockpiles dwindled and huge numbers of young Russian men were killed or wounded in the invasion he began nearly three years ago.
Since then, munitions and missiles have flowed from North Korea to Russia, though Moscow and Pyongyang have both denied the weapons transfers, despite significant evidence. North Korean troops have also joined the fight on Russia’s side according to Ukrainian and Western intelligence assessments.
And observers have long raised concerns that Moscow may be violating international sanctions to aid Pyongyang’s development of its military satellite program.
In October, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun said at the Pentagon that North Korea will likely request Russian technology transfers relating to tactical nuclear weapons, the advancement of North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles, reconnaissance satellites and nuclear submarines, in exchange for deploying troops to help Russia.
Zelensky praises Trump as Ukraine launches Kursk counterattack
Russia’s southern border region of Kursk continues to be at the center of fighting, months after Ukraine launched its incursion in the territory. On Sunday, Kyiv said it launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk.
Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging the cross-border incursion in August last year.
Speaking on Monday, Blinken said more than 1,000 North Korean forces were killed or wounded in Kursk in the last week of December, an estimate also shared by the White House in late December.
Zelensky, who has repeatedly appealed for continued US military aid and weapons since the start of Russia’s invasion, praised US President-elect Trump and billionaire Elon Musk during an interview with an American podcaster broadcast Sunday.
Speaking to Lex Fridman, Zelensky said he “very much hopes” Trump will “end the war” and believes the president-elect has “all the power to stop Putin and give Ukraine strong security guarantees.”
The Ukrainian President has previously said that when Trump takes power, the “war will end sooner” – a promise Trump has made to his voters.
Zelensky said Trump won November’s presidential election because he was a “much stronger” candidate than Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He showed that he can do it intellectually and physically. It was important to show that if you want to have a strong country that you must be strong. And he was strong,” Zelensky said.
In the interview, Zelensky thanked Musk for providing Ukraine with the Starlink internet system that has proven crucial in its war effort against Russia.
Zelensky described Musk as “a leader of innovation” and said people like him “only push the world forward.”
“I would really like Elon to be on our side as much as possible, to support us,” he added.
When asked about the possibility of a ceasefire, Zelensky said Kyiv would consider it only if it was “reassured that there are security guarantees” for the territories under Ukrainian control. Without such guarantees, he warned, Putin would attack again.
Ukraine would also need partial NATO membership, Zelensky said, and that the West should provide more weapons to Kyiv to enable it to defend itself in case of future attacks from Russia.