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UPI
23-05-2025
- Politics
- UPI
North Korea launches full-scale probe into warship accident
A satellite image shared by British research organization Open Source Centre on Thursday shows a North Korean warship listing on its side and covered by blue tarpaulins after a failed launch attempt at Chongjin Shipyard earlier this week. Photo courtesy of Open Source Center /X SEOUL, May 23 (UPI) -- North Korea began a full-scale investigation into an accident that damaged a new warship at its launch ceremony this week, state-run media reported Friday, with investigators vowing that those culpable "can never evade their responsibility for the crime." The accident occurred on Wednesday at the Chongjin Shipyard during the launch ceremony for the 5,000-ton destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was in attendance, called the incident a "criminal act" and said it "could not be tolerated." South Korea's military assessed afterward that the North had attempted to "side-launch" the vessel by sliding it into the water sideways rather than launching it from a drydock, a technique analysts believe Pyongyang had never used before. Satellite imagery captured by Airbus Space and shared on X on Thursday by British research organization Open Source Centre showed the warship listing on its side, draped by blue tarpaulins. OSC called the coverings "a visible attempt to contain the disaster." While the North's initial media account on Thursday claimed that sections of the ship's hull were crushed during the launch mishap, Friday's report in state-run Korean Central News Agency downplayed the damage. "Detailed underwater and internal inspection of the warship confirmed that, unlike the initial announcement, there were no holes made at the warship's bottom," the KCNA report said. The hull starboard was scratched and seawater flowed into the stern section, KCNA said, calling the extent of the damage "not serious." It would take around 10 days to restore the warship's damaged side, the report added. Kim Jong Un blamed government officials, engineers and shipyard workers for the incident, KCNA reported on Thursday. He warned that their "irresponsible errors" would be dealt with at a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party central committee next month. The accident "brought the dignity and self-respect of our state to a collapse," Kim said, and ordered the ship to be restored before the June meeting. Hong Kil Ho, manager of the Chongjin Shipyard, was summoned by authorities, the KCNA report said Friday. The ruling party's Central Military Commission instructed investigators to determine the cause of the accident and find those responsible for it, KCNA said. "No matter how good the state of the warship is, the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged, and those responsible for it can never evade their responsibility for the crime," the military commission said. The destroyer was the second warship introduced by North Korea in recent weeks, following the launch of its 5,000-ton Choe Hyon destroyer at the Nampo Shipyard on April 25. That vessel is armed with a wide range of weapons, including supersonic cruise missiles and strategic cruise missiles, according to North Korean reports. Photos released by the North showed that the Choe Hyon's missile and radar systems resemble those found on Russian vessels, prompting speculation that Pyongyang received technical assistance from Moscow in its development. North Korea has deployed troops, artillery and weapons to Russia to aid in Moscow's war against Ukraine, and is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology for its own weapons programs. The warship damaged during the launch accident appears to be similarly equipped to the Choe Hyon, South Korea's military said Thursday.
Reuters
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
US to seek UN sanctions on ships taking North Korean coal to China
May 7 (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it plans to call for U.N. sanctions against vessels identified as taking part in circumvention of United Nations resolutions to combat North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. The British-based Open Source Center issued a report on Wednesday, opens new tab saying that in the past year it had tracked a number of non-Korean flagged vessels transporting North Korean coal and iron ore to ports in China, in violation of U.N. sanctions. Speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, James Byrne, director of the Open Source Network, identified several vessels, including the Tanzanian-flagged Armani and Sophia, the falsely-flagged Cartier and Casio, and the unflagged Yi Li 1 and An Yu. Byrne said the vessels had started engaging in sophisticated "spoofing" techniques, such as by presenting digital tracks to indicate they were in other countries, when satellite imagery showed them loading in North Korea. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea said the Security Council would continue to highlight sanctions violations despite Russia's veto last year of the mandate of the panel of experts that monitored such violations on behalf of the U.N.'s 1718 Committee on North Korea. "In the coming days, we plan to nominate for designation in the 1718 Committee vessels clearly identified in the briefing to which Mr. Byrne referred for violations of U.N. sanctions restrictions," she said. Shea accused Russia of "cynically obstructing" sanctions implementation, including though importation of North Korean missiles and shells for use in its war in Ukraine. She accused Chinese authorities of "looking the other way" as Chinese companies import North Korean coal and iron ore, even though Beijing insists it fully implements the U.N. resolutions. Geng Shuang, China's deputy U.N. ambassador, said China rejected U.S. "accusations and smearing" and charged that Washington was using the North Korea issue as a pretext for strategic military deployments that jeopardized the security interests of regional countries, including China. Russian U.N. ambassador Vasily Nebenzya dismissed criticism of its relationship and cooperation with North Korea, saying it was Moscow's sovereign right and that Russia was "very grateful to our Korean brothers for the assistance they've extended to us." North Korea's U.N. ambassador Kim Song accused the United States of "high-handedness and arbitrariness" that should not be tolerated by the international community.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korean artillery now dominates Russia's ammunition supply in war against Ukraine, investigation says
The majority of artillery shells used by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2024 were manufactured in North Korea, according to a joint investigation by Reuters and the Open Source Center (OPS), published on April 15. North Korea has become a key military ally of Russia, supplying artillery shells, missiles, and reportedly even soldiers in exchange for oil products and advanced rocket technology. Internal technical reports from Russia's Defense Ministry, obtained by investigators, indicate that in some Russian military units, between 75% and 100% of artillery shells are North Korean-made. Overall, North Korea is providing roughly half of all artillery shells used by Russian troops, according to Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), as cited by Reuters. Arms shipments from North Korea to Russia began no later than September 2023, following a July visit to Pyongyang by then–Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the investigation found. Between September 2023 and March 17, 2025, Russian cargo ships Angara, Maria, Maya-1, and Lady R transported military cargo 64 times from the North Korean port of Rajin to the Russian ports of Danube and Vostochny. According to satellite images, the ships carried at least 15,809 containers in total. Cargoes from North Korea also traveled by the Friendship Bridge railroad across the Tumanna River in Primorye. Deliveries peaked in January 2024, with seven batches per month, and cargo ships are currently transporting about three batches of shells per month, according to the investigation. The containers could carry between four and six million artillery shells alone. The shells were transported by rail to warehouses near the Russian-Ukrainian border, mainly to Tikhoretsk in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin described North Korea as a "partner" and noted that a treaty on military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, signed last year, had come into force. Putin also suggested on March 27 that countries "friendly" to Russia, including North Korea, could take part in the peace process and negotiations to end Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Read also: The rise and fall of Ukraine's Kursk gambit We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Al Arabiya
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Inside North Korea's elaborate operation to help Russia's war on Ukraine
The Reuters investigation shows the extent of Russia's reliance upon North Korean shells on the battlefield, which helped it pursue a war of attrition that Ukraine has struggled to match. At times over the past year, the vast majority of shells fired by some Russian units were from North Korea, Reuters found. An analysis of sea and land shipments by the Open Source Center in conjunction with Reuters was confirmed by Russian artillery reports intercepted by Kyiv, satellite imagery and verified social media videos, as well as three senior Ukrainian government and military sources. North Korea has also dispatched ballistic missiles as well as long-range artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems. Its deliveries represent the most significant direct military aid to Russia's war effort, which has also benefited from Iranian long-range drone technology and close economic support from China. The Open Source Center, or OSC, an independent UK-based research organization focused on security, tracked 64 shipments over 20 months carrying nearly 16,000 containers and millions of artillery rounds for use against Ukraine, including a shipment as recent as March 17. The military partnership between North Korea and Russia came to light in 2023. It took on new importance in recent weeks, when North Korean troops, weapons systems and ammunition bolstered Russian firepower to evict the remnants of Ukraine's incursion in Russia's Kursk region just as the Trump administration was pulling support for Ukraine. Ukrainian officials, including the military intelligence chief, have said North Korea is supplying half the munitions Russia needs at the front — a quantity consistent with the findings by both OSC and Reuters. One expert in the Ukrainian military told Reuters that the North Korean contribution was as high as 70 percent, and Reuters found that at times Russian artillery units were almost wholly reliant upon North Korean munitions. 'North Korea's contribution has been strategically vital,' said Hugh Griffiths, who from 2014 to 2019 was coordinator of the UN panel of experts that monitored sanctions on North Korea. 'Without Chairman Kim Jong Un's support, President Vladimir Putin wouldn't really be able to prosecute his war in Ukraine.' Though Western military support for Ukraine has kept it in the war since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, including a Czech initiative to supply 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, that aid has been inconsistent and of late appears increasingly uncertain. At no point has any Ukrainian ally offered up its own soldiers to fight. By January, around 4,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded fighting against Ukrainian forces since they first arrived in Kursk in late autumn, according to a South Korean security source. North Korea sent 3,000 more men by mid-February – and the reinforcements were better prepared, said Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of Ukraine's 225th Separate Assault Regiment, which has been fighting in Kursk. 'They adapted to modern combat conditions,' Shyriaiev recalled. Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said in late February that North Korea also supplied 120 long-range self-propelled artillery systems and 120 multiple launch rocket systems to Russia beginning in late 2024, including some filmed by Ukrainian drones in Kursk. Russia's recent victories in Kursk come at a crucial time. US President Donald Trump says he wants a quick end to the war, and Ukraine had hoped that holding Russian territory would strengthen its hand in negotiations. But now only a tiny pocket of Kursk remains under Ukrainian control. North Korea's delegations at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, and its embassy in London, did not respond to detailed questions about Reuters' findings, nor did Russia's Defense Ministry or South Korea's National Intelligence Service and Ministry of National Defense. Shared border, shared history Russia and North Korea share a short border and a history. Kim Il Sung, who fought in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War, became North Korea's first leader and received Soviet support during the Korean War and beyond. He ruled until his death in 1994, starting the dynasty that remains in power. In 1959, the countries commissioned a 'Friendship Bridge' for trains crossing the Tumen River, which marks the border they share, a stone's throw from the Chinese frontier. Relations cooled after the Soviet Union's collapse. The two countries' ties warmed again as Russia found itself increasingly politically and economically isolated over the war in Ukraine. Ukraine's first counteroffensive in late 2022 forced Russia into retreat from vast swathes of Ukrainian land. Russia spent the next six months digging trenches, laying mines and erecting defensive structures. That combination stalled Ukraine's second counteroffensive in summer 2023, and the war became one of attrition in which both sides have tried to outgun and outkill each other. Since the war's beginning, Russia has had more soldiers and firepower than Ukraine, in addition to its enormous military industrial capacity. Putin has not backed down in his goals, claiming a vast portion of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory is, in fact, Russia. But by 2023, in a throwback to the trench warfare of the First World War, artillery and mortar fire became the keys to holding territory and prising the enemy from defensive positions. Whoever had the most shells would have a major advantage. At that point, military experts estimated that both Russia and Ukraine were at times firing 10,000 artillery rounds a day, exhausting their supplies. Ukraine's allies in Europe, the United States and Asia continued to scour the world and their own stocks for shells, helping a much smaller army compete with Russia. Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu travelled to Pyongyang in July 2023 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. He and Kim discussed closer military cooperation. Already in September 2023, ships started carrying hundreds of containers from the North Korean port of Rajin to the eastern Russian ports of Dunai and Vostochny, according to the OSC, which monitors daily satellite images of the ships. The United States has said the containers held armaments that were loaded onto trains for transport thousands of kilometers away to weapons depots in western Russia. At the end of 2023, a Ukrainian government assessment seen by Reuters found that the Cold War-era Friendship Bridge was being used, along with much bigger deliveries by ship. First reported by the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank in October 2023, the shipments expanded rapidly over the following months and the OSC has tracked them since their inception. Deliveries peaked in January 2024, with seven shipments crossing into Russia, before dropping to a monthly average of around three through March 2025.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russian vessel sanctioned over North Korean arms shipments entering European waters, researchers say
The Russian munitions carrier Maia-1 passed the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea as it is likely heading for the Russian port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea, the Open Source Center (OSC) research group said on Feb. 19. This would mark the first time that the Russian-flagged vessel, sanctioned by the U.S. and the EU, entered European waters, the Financial Times noted. Maia-1, owned by the sanctioned MG-Flot company, has reportedly made at least nine voyages to North Korea in the past five months. North Korea has become Moscow's leading supporter in its war against Ukraine, providing artillery, shells, ballistic missiles, and over up to 12,000 soldiers for deployment in Russia's Kursk Oblast. The MarineTraffic monitoring channel shows Maia-1 north of Egypt's Mediterranean coast and well past the Suez Canal as of Feb. 20, heading west. The content of Maia-1's cargo remains unclear. Joe Byrne, a senior OSC analyst, told the Financial Times that Maia-1's trip is meant to "test" the Western resolve in enforcing sanctions. Ust-Luga, Maia-1's declared destination, lies in Russia's northeastern Leningrad Oblast, only some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the border with NATO member Estonia. The city's port has reportedly served as a key hub for Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers used to avoid sanctions. Russia has also been building a new liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Baltic port, though Western sanctions have hampered the process. A Ukrainian drone strike against the Ust-Luga port was reported in January, while an oil tanker exploded at the port under unclear circumstances the following month. Read also: Explosions reported on Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in Italy We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
