DPRK (North Korea): Open Briefing
This afternoon (18 December), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing under the agenda item “Non-proliferation/Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)”. The meeting was requested by France, Japan, Malta, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, the UK, and the US and is intended to “raise awareness on the security implications arising out of expanding DPRK military engagements”. The anticipated briefers are Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and a representative of Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based non-governmental organisation that documents evidence of weapon supplies into armed conflicts. It seems that several interested parties have indicated an interest in participating in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, including the DPRK and Ukraine.
Several Council members are likely to focus on the growing military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, including the reported deployment of DRPK troops to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive in early August. On 16 December, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters that the US has determined that “[DRPK] soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk”, adding that “we do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded”. Two days earlier, on 14 December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had “preliminary evidence that the Russians have begun to use soldiers from [the DPRK] in assaults” in Kursk and said that these troops “may be used in other parts of the front line”.
These announcements came after the DPRK and Russia signed a “Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” on 19 June. Among other matters, the treaty provides that “in case any one of the two sides is put in a state of war by an armed invasion from an individual state or several states, the other side shall provide military and other assistance with all means in its possession without delay in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and the laws of the DPRK and [Russia]”. In remarks delivered immediately following the signing of the treaty, which has since been ratified by both parties, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that Russia was open to “developing military and technical cooperation” with the DPRK within the framework established by the agreement.
Since the treaty was signed, reports documenting a growing number of DPRK troops in the Kursk region and increasing transfers of weapons and military technology between the DPRK and Russia have steadily emerged. On 4 November, Ryder told reporters that US officials estimated that there were “11,000 to 12,000” DPRK soldiers in Russia receiving training from the Russian military. In a 20 November parliamentary briefing, ROK intelligence officials reportedly told lawmakers that the DPRK had supplied additional artillery systems to Russia for use in Ukraine and said that the DPRK troops deployed to Russia had begun engaging in combat. ROK officials have also publicly announced that Russia has sent military equipment to Pyongyang, including anti-aircraft missiles, while a UK-based non-profit organisation has recently reported that Russia has provided more than a million barrels of oil to the DPRK since March, allegedly in return for weapons and troops. A US-based think tank has also reported that the DPRK appears to be expanding a weapons manufacturing plant that produces missiles that Russia may be using in Ukraine.
The DPRK and Russia have also held several rounds of high-level meetings since the “Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” was signed. In early November, DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui travelled to Moscow, where she met with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Later that month, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov visited Pyongyang and reportedly attended meetings with DPRK military and political leaders, including Kim Jong-un.
The growing cooperation between the DPRK and Russia has prompted the ROK and Ukraine to explore the possibility of boosting their own ties. In late November, a delegation led by Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov travelled to Seoul for a series of meetings with high level officials, including ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and then-ROK Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun. According to a statement issued by Yoon’s office, the participants in these meetings discussed the possibility of strengthening cooperation between the ROK and Ukraine in response to the closer relationship between the DPRK and Russia.
On 16 December, the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the ROK, New Zealand, the UK, and the US issued a joint statement, together with the High Representative of the European Union (EU). The statement strongly condemned the increasing military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia, including the deployment of DPRK troops to Russia, and referred to the DPRK’s support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine as a “dangerous expansion of the conflict” that carries “serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security”. The statement also described the DPRK’s export of ballistic missiles, artillery shells, and other military material to Russia and Moscow’s training of DPRK soldiers as “flagrant violations” of several Security Council resolutions. In addition, the signatories urged the DPRK to cease providing assistance to Russia and called on Moscow to “immediately end its war of aggression against Ukraine”, as well as its military cooperation with the DPRK. Several Council members are expected to echo these messages in their statements during today’s meeting, while some may also highlight the links between DPRK-Russia military cooperation and the DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme.
Some members may express support for the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT). Announced by Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the ROK, the UK, and the US on 16 October, the MSMT is intended to monitor and report on violations of the 1718 DPRK sanctions regime. At the time of writing, it appears that the modalities and working methods of the MSMT are still being determined.
Russia, for its part, may defend the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty” and claim that it is intended to play a stabilising role in the region, while also arguing that its cooperation with the DPRK fully complies with its international obligations. It is also likely to accuse the US of fomenting tensions in Ukraine, citing Washington’s reported decision in November to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons, including the long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), enabling Ukrainian forces to strike targets inside Russia. Both China and Russia are likely to blame the US for the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and might refer to the humanitarian impact of sanctions on the DPRK. They may also refer to a draft resolution first circulated by China in October 2021 that would provide sanctions relief to the DPRK if adopted.
