MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th July, 2023) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that one of the main goals of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's recent visit to North Korea was to allegedly ensure additional weapons supplies to Russia to continue hostilities in Ukraine.
A Russian delegation led by Shoigu visited North Korea from July 25-27 at the invitation of the North Korean Defense Ministry to participate in the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War of 1950-1953.
"With regard to reports of the Russian defense minister in North Korea, I strongly doubt he's there on holiday. So what are we seeing? We're seeing Russia desperately looking for support, for weapons wherever it can find them, to continue to prosecute its aggression against Ukraine. And we see that in North Korea," Blinken told reporters in Australia following the 33rd Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
He added that the same situation was observed with regard to Iran, which the West has been accusing of allegedly supplying military drones to Russia.
Both Pyongyang and Tehran have on many occasions denied accusations of supplying weapons to Russia. North Korea's foreign ministry spokesperson, in particular, has said that Pyongyang has never had any arms deals with Moscow and that media reports about this are just absurd rumors.
