South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said North Korea may sell new types of tactical missiles to Russia in addition to allegedly supplying short-range ballistic missiles for use by Moscow in its war with Ukraine. Ukrainian Pravda.

It also said North Korea could test an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile as soon as this month and launch a long-range missile to heighten already high tensions ahead of key Korean elections in the South and the United States.

Shin Won-sik said in an interview with Yonhap that the weapons system unveiled by North Korean state media during leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to a munitions factory earlier this week appear to be short-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons.

“In April 2022, North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile for the first time. This is a new type of weapon with an estimated range of 100-180 kilometers,” the minister said.

Shin suggested that Kim Jong Un’s recent visit to munitions factories could be linked to possible North Korean arms sales to Russia as the two countries strengthen military cooperation.

“Given the recent arms trade, (I think) North Korea could sell it to Russia,” he said.

The United States and its allies condemned Russia’s use of North Korean missiles in Ukraine on Wednesday, calling it abhorrent, while Seoul said the country, which has been invaded since February 2022, is a test site for Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable missiles.

The Russian ambassador to the UN did not unequivocally deny the use of North Korean missiles

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasyl Nebenzya, said that Western countries characterized the Security Council meeting as an “anti-Russian propaganda” exercise, but did not deny unequivocally that Moscow fired North Korean missiles at Ukraine.

“Today, Western members of the Security Council repeated the ‘fact’ of the Russian military’s use of missiles from North Korea in its special military operation in Ukraine,” Nebenzya said, adding that a representative of the Air Force of Ukraine denied this information. that there was any evidence of this “fact”. Thus, it turns out that the US is spreading information that is incorrect without trying to verify it in advance,” said a Russian official.

South Korea’s ambassador said Russia’s use of North Korean missiles gave Pyongyang “valuable technical and military information” about its weapons.

“By exporting missiles to Russia, North Korea uses Ukraine as a test site for its nuclear missiles,” South Korean Ambassador Hwang Jung Kook said.

“Some experts believe that the missiles fired in Ukraine are KN-23 missiles, which North Korea claims can carry nuclear warheads,” he added, noting that one of them flew 460 km, the distance between the North Korean launch site and South Korean. the city of Busan.