On the first visit to North Korea by a Russian defense minister since the Cold War, Sergei Shoigu was shown Pyongyang's banned ballistic missiles in the company of the state's leader Kim Jong Un.
Shoigu was in the country with a Chinese delegation that included a Politburo member to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, which is called Victory Day on the north of the peninsula.
Pyongyang's ballistic missiles are banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions adopted with Russian and Chinese support. North Korean state news agency KCNA reported that Kim had shown Shoigu new weapons and military equipment at an exhibition. There are U.S. accusations that Pyongyang is providing Moscow with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Shoigu saw ballistic missiles in multi-axle transporter launchers and what appeared to be a new drone, per Reuters. Newsweek has not been able to verify this report.
Also on display were what appeared to be at least two new drone designs that NK News reported were like a pair that were being flight-tested at North Korea's Pangyhon Airbase in June.
NK News, an independent English language outlet that reports on North Korea, said that one appeared to be a combat UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] like a U.S. Reaper drone. The other resembled a U.S. Global Hawk reconnaissance drone.
The exhibition also featured North Korea's largest nuclear missiles like the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and the Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM that was tested this year, per NK News.
The trip showed solidarity between Moscow and Pyongyang against the U.S. Kim reportedly said that, during sit-down talks with Shoigu, the pair discussed "the struggle for defending the sovereignty of the two countries," as well as the "high-handedness and arbitrariness of the imperialists."
Ankit Panda, of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters that the tour of Pyongyang's weapons "is evidence that Moscow is complacent with North Korea's ongoing nuclear modernization."
North Korean media did not refer to the war in Ukraine but reported that Defence Minister Kang Sun Nam said Pyongyang fully supported Russia's "battle for justice."
Meanwhile, social-media users said that it was significant that the visit was touting Moscow's ties with an autocracy. In tweeting the story of Shoigu's visit, Russian opposition activist Garry Kasparov wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "the spider in the center of the web.
"Dictatorships from Belarus to Syria and Iran to Venezuela count on Russian support. Illiberal movements and leaders all over Europe see Putin as a patron. His downfall will be a global blow to autocracy," Kasparov added.
Newsweek has emailed the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
