Ukraine war: US says Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un traded letters as Russia seeks North Korean munitions
- New intelligence shows talks on a weapons sale are advancing, a White House spokesman says
- The letter swap purportedly took place following a recent visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu
The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its Ukraine war.
Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up its defence industrial base.
He added that the letters were “more at the surface level” but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. The leaders exchanged the letters following Shoigu’s visit, he said.
02:22
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un oversees Korean war parade alongside Russian and Chinese officials
“Following Shoigu’s visit another group of Russian officials travelled to Pyongyang for follow-on discussions about potential arms deals between the DPRK and Russia,” Kirby said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kirby declined to detail how US officials had gathered the intelligence.