Nato’s Rutte says Russia supporting North Korean nuclear programme

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Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has accused Russia of assisting North Korea’s nuclear programme in exchange for Pyongyang sending troops to help its war against Ukraine, the first such claim by a senior western official.

“In return for troops and weapons, Russia is providing North Korea with support for its missile and nuclear programmes,” Rutte said after meeting Nato foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday. “These developments could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and even threaten the United States.”

South Korea and the EU last month condemned the deployment of soldiers to Russia by Pyongyang, saying they were “also deeply concerned” about the possibility of nuclear technology being transferred to North Korea.

Senior officials in Kyiv have said thousands of North Korean soldiers had been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, freeing up Moscow’s forces for combat with Ukrainian troops.

When asked what had prompted his statement on Wednesday, Rutte declined to provide details of any “intelligence information”, adding: “But more generally, let me say we should not be naive.”

“Nuclear technology, missile technology, is flowing into North Korea, and therefore [there] is a risk now that North Korea will use it,” he added.

Rutte’s remarks will intensify pressure on South Korea, which is in the midst of a political crisis following president Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law, to provide arms directly to Ukraine.

Yoon and other senior officials in Seoul have described Pyongyang’s direct participation in the conflict as a threat to South Korea’s security that offers North Korean troops valuable battlefield experience and access to Russian military technologies.

But Seoul has continued to resist entreaties from western allies to draw on its vast stockpiles of armaments, preferring to contribute to Kyiv’s war effort through non-lethal aid.

Edward Howell, a fellow with the Asia Pacific programme at the Chatham House think-tank, said Russia’s burgeoning co-operation with North Korea had already crossed several “red lines” cited by South Korean officials over the past year as potential conditions for direct arms supplies to Kyiv.

“How many more red lines need to be crossed for South Korea to take action?” said Howell, noting that receiving nuclear-related technologies from Russia would be regarded as “extremely important” by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“This forms part of Kim’s ultimate goal, which is to gain de facto recognition of North Korea as a nuclear armed state,” he added.

Last year, Kim told a gathering of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly that he intended to “exponentially increase nuclear weapons production to realise all kinds of nuclear strike methods”.

North Korea is estimated to have assembled 50 nuclear warheads and have enough fissile material to produce 70-90 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association. South Korea’s military intelligence agency said in October that Pyongyang had completed preparations for a seventh nuclear test.