Russia paid North Korea up to $13.8B for help fighting Ukraine, South Korean intelligence says
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North Korea has earned up to $13.6 billion for supplying weapons and soldiers to Russia, according to a new report.
Citing South Korean intelligence, a May 11 report from Nikkei Asia puts North Korean aid to Russia at $7 billion to $13.8 billion worth of weapons through 2025.
Those shipments include 152-mm artillery ammunition and KN-23 ballistic missiles, which Ukrainian military intelligence last year said had improved their accuracy noticeably based on performance in Ukraine.
Another report that Nikkei sites puts the North Korean presence near the fighting in Ukraine at 10,000 special forces personnel, 10,000 engineers and hundreds of drone operators. The report sites plans to send an additional 30,000 North Korean soldiers.
The intelligence report estimates North Korean casualties through February at 6,000 killed or wounded.
During an April visit by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov to Pyongyang, North Korea inaugurated a new museum dedicated to the soldiers who have died fighting in Ukraine.
South Korea's Institute for Defense Analysis last year identified transfers that it valued at over $20 billion, but those were for weaponry and military technology rather than cash. Russia is reportedly helping South Korea to develop its own Shahed-style long-range drones and submarines.
