US Institution Reports Extraordinary Train Activities At North Korea-Russia Border

Photos of Archives - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Vladivostik, Russia's Far East, on April 25, 2019. (Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/kremlin.ru via wikimedia commons.)

JAKARTA - An American think-tank agency claims the latest satellite imagery shows a dramatic increase in rail traffic along the North Korean and Russian borders following Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month.

Beyond Parallel, a Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies project said in a recent report on Friday that satellite imagery from North Korea's Tumangang Rail Facility on the border with Russia taken on Thursday showed an unprecedented number of freight carriages, which was 73.

"The level of train traffic is much greater than what Beyond Parallel has seen at the facility for the past five years, even than the pre-COVID-19 period." said the report, quoted by Antara, Sunday

The report also said the unprecedented train movement indicated Pyongyang's supply of weapons and ammunition to Russia.

Last week, the Pentagon described Iran and North Korea as "permanent threats" in its strategy to counter weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

But North Korea denied the report and said the WMD's biggest threat came from the United States.

The war of words continues between North Korea and the US following a meeting between Putin and Kim last month, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that increasing cooperation between Russia and North Korea threatens global peace.

North Korea said the latest developments in relations with Russia were on its "right to sovereignty" and "phonation for regional stability".