North Korea says it has never supplied weapons to Russia and has no plans to do so, condemning US claims of arms transfers for the Ukraine war as an attempt at “tarnishing” the country’s image.

In a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency on Thursday, an unnamed North Korean defence official said the United States and other hostile forces were “spreading a ‘rumour of arms’ dealings” between Pyongyang and Moscow.

“We strongly condemn and sternly warn the US over spreading such anti-DPRK rhetoric,” the official said, using the abbreviations for the formal name for North Korea.

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“We have never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia before and we will not plan to export them,” the official added.

The denial came weeks after Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, told reporters that Russia “is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use in Ukraine”.

The White House later called it a “potential purchase”, with national security spokesperson John Kirby clarifying that have been “no indications that purchase has been completed and certainly no indications that those weapons are being used inside of Ukraine”.

more at aljazeera.com