Recent North Korean weapons shipments for Russia's war against Ukraine may have included short-range ballistic and portable anti-aircraft missiles in addition to artillery rounds, South Korea's military said Thursday.

The assessment came a day after South Korea's National Intelligence Service informed a parliamentary committee that North Korea appeared to have sent over a million artillery rounds and other weapons in around 10 shipments to Russia since early August.

A military official said it was estimated that about 2,000 containers of munitions were shipped from the port of Rason in the northeast of North Korea to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.

In October, the United States said North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia between Sept. 7 and Oct. 1.

The South Korean military official said North Korea's weapons shipments to Russia appear to have become more frequent in October.

There were indications that North Korea has been supplying weapons to Russia since mid-2022, the official said, adding shipments increased after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Far East in September.

Photo shows satellite images released by the U.S. National Security Council in announcing North Korea's arms shipment to Russia. (1) shows North Korea's port of Najin from where a set of cargo containers were shipped by sea; (2) shows Dunay where the containers arrived; (3) shows an ammunition depot near the Ukrainian border where the containers were delivered by rail. (Photo courtesy of National Security Council)(Kyodo)

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