In the past month, North Korea has continued to push forward its military development efforts, announcing that it successfully tested the engine of a new solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile and placed its first spy satellite in orbit.

These rapid advancements in its military capabilities have come as the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that the Kremlin is providing technical assistance to Pyongyang in return for North Korean artillery shells for use in its invasion of Ukraine.

At the same time, an official in South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff publicly claimed that North