North Korean Weapons Reach Russia and Palestine
GHRTV
27-10-2023
Vedran Muftic
East Asia Researcher
Global Human Rights Defence
In the long war over Ukraine, Russia has been seeking support from North Korea in the form of weapons for over a year. On October 13th, North Korea delivered 1,000 containers of equipment and munitions to Russia according to US intelligence [1]. Britain’s defense ministry confirmed that amid speculations, North Korean munitions had arrived in western Russia to be used in the war against Ukraine [2].
In the latest news surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict, Israel intelligence said that portions of the weapons used by Hamas during the October 7th attacks were manufactured in North Korea [3].
It has been earlier reported that the North Korean weapons program have been funded by illegal overseas work by Korean nationals. North Korea sends its citizens to work abroad where they work under harsh conditions and heavy surveillance while their wages are being confiscated. A majority of this labor is reported to be done in Russia and China [4]. It is however unclear how much of the overseas labor has contributed to the weapons export to these particular conflicts.
North Korea is not a signatory of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCWC) [5] or the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) [6]. By not being a signatory, North Korea makes no active action to restrict the production, development or stockpiling of weapons. North Korea had not adopted the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) either which would regulate its international trade on weapons. This gives easy access to these weapons in various conflict zones around the world.
[1] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/103_362006.html
[2] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/103_361992.html
[3] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/103_361983.html
[5] https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-3&chapter=26&clang=_en
[6] https://disarmament.unoda.org/the-convention-on-certain-conventional-weapons/
[7] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-8&chapter=26&clang=_en
