North Korea's involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine provides the DPRK with crucial combat experience that could be utilized against its own neighbors.
According to U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Camille Shea, Pyongyang is reaping significant benefits from its collaboration with Russia, including military equipment, technology, and expertise, which enhances North Korea's readiness for warfare in the region.
“In turn, the DPRK is likely to seek to leverage these advancements for promoting arms sales and military training contracts worldwide,” the official added.
These remarks were made against the backdrop of North Korea's test of a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile on January 6. Kim Jong Un justified these tests as part of a strategy to bolster the country's defense capabilities, but the U.S. and its UN allies view these actions as aggressive. Russia, for its part, denied allegations of transferring technology to Pyongyang and accused the U.S., South Korea, and Japan of provocations due to joint military exercises that heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean ambassador to the UN, in turn, stated that North Korean soldiers are “essentially slaves” of Kim Jong Un, who are sent off to foreign wars without a trace to secure funding for the regime and acquire advanced military technologies.
