US says Russia 'may be' aiding North Korean ballistic missile, nuclear programs

​​​​​​​By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia "may be" aiding North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs in exchange for Pyongyang's provision of troops to aid the Kremlin's war effort in Ukraine.

Blinken said the US is "deeply concerned" by what he called a growing "two-way street" between North Korea and Russia amid the more than two-year war in Ukraine.

"We see what North Korea is doing for Russia and Ukraine right now with the troops, but we also are looking attentively at what Russia is and may be doing for North Korea, including potentially boosting its missile and nuclear capacity," he told reporters in Italy where he was meeting with his G-7 counterparts.

Blinken said such actions increase "insecurity and instability" on the Korean Peninsula, and "will cause us to take further steps, building on what we've already done, to strengthen our deterrence, and to strengthen our defense.”

"These are undoubtedly steps that, while not directed to China, China will not like," he said. "We, I think, would all look to China to use its influence to try to bring this to an end."

South Korean media reported that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Alexandra Bell told a local conference Friday that the North is preparing for a possible seventh nuclear test.

"The United States assesses that the DPRK (North Korea) has prepared its Punggye-ri test site for its potential seventh explosive nuclear test, awaiting only a political decision to move ahead," Bell told the Korea Society, according to multiple reports.

"Such a test would constitute a grave escalation of tensions in the region and present a security risk to the entire world," she added.