Russia has provided N. Korea with Pantsir air defense system, jammers since troop deployment: report

Russia has provided North Korea with its air defense system, electronic warfare jamming devices and other military support since late last year, in blatant violations of U.N. sanctions amid their deepening ties, an international monitoring report released by Seoul’s foreign ministry showed Thursday.

Since November 2024, Moscow has transferred at least one Pantsir mobile air defense system and one Pantsir-class combat vehicle to Pyongyang, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) said in its first report on the sanctions enforcement.

The MSMT was established in October last year with the initiative of South Korea and the United States as an alternative framework to the U.N. Panel of Experts on North Korean sanctions monitoring.

The panel was disbanded in March of the same year due to Russia’s veto. Besides South Korea and the U.S., nine other countries have joined the mechanism — Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and New Zealand.

The inaugural report, specifically focusing on the illegal military cooperation between Russia and the North, is the MSMT’s first assessment on the sanctions enforcement since its launch.

The findings were based on the intelligence and other information provided by the participating countries and data from private research institutes.

The Pantsir missile system is made up of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. A South Korean lawmaker has recently mentioned the weapons systems unveiled on the North’s new Choe Hyon destroyer as bearing a marked resemblance to the Russian Pantsir system.

The report also found that North Korea has supplied Russia with more than 20,000 containers worth of military supplies since September 2023.

The shipments include approximately 9 million rounds of artillery and multiple rocket launcher ammunition, more than 100 ballistic missiles and over 200 heavy artillery pieces, as well as anti-tank guided missiles and rockets.

These transfers make up enough supplies to equip three full brigades, the report said.

Russian transport aircraft were used for the arms transfers between November and December of 2023. They include three IL-76 and three AN-124 military planes belonging to the Russian Transport Aviation Command, the report said.

Russia has also provided the North with missile performance data and technical support to enhance Pyongyang’s missile guidance capabilities, in a clear violation of U.N.Security Council (UNSC) resolutions against Pyongyang, which Russia itself voted for as a permanent UNSC member.

The report stated that North Korea sent over 11,000 troops to Russia in 2024, with an additional 3,000 soldiers dispatched recently. Those soldiers were trained by the Russian military on artillery drone countermeasures and basic infantry operations.

The report said that the two countries have engaged in high-level exchanges between top military officials, suggesting the deepening ties following the signing of a bilateral defense treaty between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their June summit last year.

Russia provided the North with more than 1 million barrels of fuel between March and October last year, the report said. The UNSC sanctions cap North Korea’s annual imports of refined petroleum at 500,000 barrels.

About 8,000 North Korean workers have been sent to Russia to work in construction, IT and other sectors, also a breach of the sanctions banning the hiring of North Koreans overseas.

The report also found that financial transactions between the two countries are being made through North Korea-owned ruble-denominated bank accounts set up in South Ossetia, a Russia-backed autonomous state in Georgia.

The report is a “product of our efforts to address the monitoring gap arising from the disbandment” of the U.N. panel, a joint statement released by the foreign ministry read.

“We underscore once again our shared determination to fully implement relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions … and continue our efforts to monitor the implementation,” the statement said.