According to the United States, Russia may be close to transferring advanced satellite and space technologies to North Korea.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced this.

“The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technologies with Pyongyang,” Blinken said.

Blinken made the remark after talks with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul in Seoul.

He also emphasized that the Russian leader may be close to supporting the DPRK’s nuclear program. This would radically change the longstanding policy of preventing the North Korean regime from producing nuclear weapons.

“That concern is very much a focus, not only for the United States, but also [South] Korea and Japan,” he added.

Blinken said that North Korea’s close alignment with Russia underscores the need for greater security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea and Japan, as well as with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as security in the Indo-Pacific and Europe becomes increasingly interconnected.

It is worth noting that while Blinken was on a visit to Seoul, North Korea tested an unknown ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan.

The launch took place at 12:01 p.m. Korean time, when J/FPS-5 radar posts reported a single ballistic target.

During this launch, the missile reached a maximum altitude of about 100 km and flew about 1,100 km. The launch took place from the interior of North Korea towards the northeast.

As a reminder, in November 2023, the DPRK launched the Malligyong-1 reconnaissance satellite on the third attempt with a Chollima-1 rocket.

Prior to the launch, a North Korean official announced that the military spy satellite was to monitor “dangerous military activities” between the United States and South Korea.