Train traffic between North Korea and Russia has spiked dramatically following a recent summit between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, indicating a \u201clikely\u201d transfer of arms, according to a new report by Washington-based analysts Beyond Parallel. High-resolution satellite imagery reveals at least 70 freight cars at North Korea\u2019s border Tumangang Rail Facility, the group said, a number described as \u201cunprecedented\u201d even when compared to pre-Covid levels. No more than 20 cars had been seen in the railyard over the previous five years, the report said. The flurry of activity \u201clikely indicates North Korea\u2019s supply of arms and munitions to Russia\u201d, the report concludes, while adding that tarps covering the shipping containers made it impossible to \u201cconclusively identify\u201d their contents. The analysis comes a day after CBS News cited an unnamed US official as saying North Korea had begun transferring artillery to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine. Last month\u2019s face-to-face meeting between Putin and Kim sparked widespread concern amo\u00adng Kyiv\u2019s allies over the possibility of a potential arms deal. North Korea, which the US has previously accused of supplying shells to Russia\u2019s Wagner Group, is a mass producer of conventional weaponry and is known to be sitting on large stocks of Soviet-era war material \u2014 albeit in unknown condition. Russia has ramped up production of shells this year to a forecast 2.5 million, but analysts have suggested that could fall short of its needs on the battlefield. Moscow\u2019s forces are firing about 60,000 rounds per day, according to Ukrainian figures. While Russia said no agreements were signed during Kim\u2019s visit, Putin said he saw \u201cpossibilities\u201d for military cooperation. Russia and North Korea, historic allies, are both under a raft of global sanctions \u2014 Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, and Pyongyang for its testing of nuclear weapons. The White House has said any arms exports from North Korea to Russia \u201cwould directly violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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