North Korea Expands Arsenal as China and Russia Block Sanctions
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- China and Russia jointly opposed economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation of North Korea in a statement following their May summit in Beijing, publicly rejecting the UN pressure campaign they once helped build.
- North Korea imported at least 3.5 million barrels of refined petroleum from China and Russia in 2025 — roughly seven times the UN-capped annual limit of 500,000 barrels — according to South Korean intelligence estimates.
- Russia signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with North Korea in June 2024, receiving ammunition, missiles, and combat manpower for its Ukraine war in exchange for resuming direct petroleum shipments and integrating Pyongyang's banks into Russian financial networks.
- China accounts for approximately 98% of Pyongyang's total trade in 2024, with bilateral commerce reaching $325.8 million in April — its highest level since December 2017.
- North Korean hackers stole $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, a 51% increase from the previous year, helping fund the regime's 20×10 domestic modernization plan.
- North Korea has assembled roughly 60 nuclear warheads with enough fissile material for at least 30 more, per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and in September 2023 codified nuclear force-building into its constitution.
- South Korea's central bank estimates the North Korean economy grew 3.7% in 2024 — its highest rate in eight years — fueled by artillery and missile exports to Russia and restored trade with Beijing.
Why it matters: The U.S. sanctions strategy against North Korea is structurally broken: China supplies 98% of Pyongyang's trade, Russia exchanged oil and UN cooperation for troops to fight in Ukraine, and Russia blocked renewal of the UN Panel of Experts in 2024. With roughly 60 assembled nuclear warheads and a 3.7% economic expansion in 2024, any future North Korean nuclear test will likely pass without meaningful international consequence.
