Kim’s sister denies that North Korea exports weapons to Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister on Friday denied widespread allegations that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia, calling the claim “absurd.”

South Korea and the United States have repeatedly accused North Korea of ​​supplying weapons to Moscow, despite a series of U.N. sanctions on both countries that would ban such arms transfers.

Analysts have also warned that the nuclear-armed North’s ramping up of testing and production of artillery and cruise missiles could prepare for shipments to Russia for use in Ukraine.

But Kim Yo Jong said Pyongyang “has no intention of exporting our military technical capabilities to any country,” according to a statement from the official Korean Central News Agency on Friday.

She further accused Seoul and Washington of “misleading public opinion with a false rumor that the weapons systems produced by … (us) are ‘for export to Russia'”.

“What is most urgent for us is not to ‘advertise’ or ‘export’ anything, but to make our military’s war readiness and war deterrence more perfect in quality and quantity,” she said.

The largely isolated North has recently strengthened military ties with Moscow, and Pyongyang last month thanked Russia for using its U.N. Security Council veto to renew a panel of experts overseeing international sanctions on Kim’s regime to block.

South Korea claimed in March that North Korea had shipped about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia for its war with Ukraine. The transfers began around July last year, according to Seoul.

Washington and experts have said Pyongyang sought a range of military assistance from Russia in return, such as satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment.

The North said last week that the country would equip its army with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher from this year, adding that a “significant change” to the army’s artillery combat capabilities is underway.

Leader Kim Jong Un inspected a new tactical missile weapons system on Tuesday and called for a “game-changing change” in war preparations by achieving arsenal production targets.

“Tactical weapons, including several rocket launchers and missiles that we recently displayed, are being produced to carry out the sole mission,” Kim Yo Jong’s Friday statement said.

“We do not conceal the fact that such weapons will be used to prevent Seoul from making idle thoughts.”

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring South Korea its “main enemy.”

It has jettisoned reunification agencies and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial encroachment.