Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, again denied arms exchanges with Russia, the state's Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
The U.S. and South Korea accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the accusations, but vowed last year to deepen military relations.
Ties between the two countries have strengthened dramatically following Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia's far east in September and a summit with President Vladimir Putin.
But Kim Yo Jong said reports of a North Korea-Russia arms deal were false and constituted a "most absurd theory" that does not deserve anyone's evaluation or interpretation, according to KCNA's report on her press statement.
Kim Yo Jong added that North Korea's developing weapons were not meant for exports but for defense against South Korea.
North and South Korea remain technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.
Meanwhile, the United States announced fresh sanctions Thursday on two Russian individuals and three Russian companies for facilitating arms transfers between Russia and North Korea, including ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on January 2 was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, U.N. sanctions monitors told a Security Council committee in a report seen by Reuters.
The leaders of North Korea's major partners, China and Russia, met Thursday and criticized Washington and its allies for their "intimidation in the military sphere" against North Korea, according to a joint statement from Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Amid a growing partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang, North Korea's ambassador to Russia on Thursday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a U.S. puppet and said Russia would emerge victorious in its conflict with Kyiv, KCNA reported.
