Putin training North Korea to find uranium amid rising nuclear tensions

Yet another sign of Russia and North Korea's close relationship (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin's Russia is training North Korea scientists to find uranium and other mineral resources as tensions over nuclear weapons continue to rise globally.

It comes as part of a initiative organised by Russian company Urangeo and Irkutsk National Research Technical University (IRNITU).

The two-week advanced course got underway for North Korean specialists in the field of solid mineral geology earlier this month, with theoretical and practical modules are included in the program.

As part of the training, those taking part will pay a visit to Urangeo's world-renowned facilities, a firm with a long-standing reputation and expertise in uranium exploration and extraction, as well as the surveying and developing deposits of other minerals, namely titanium, gold, coal and more.

General Director of Russian geological research company Zarubezhgeologia, Alexey Desyatkin has confirmed the project was designed to provide a platform for professional exchange and to familiarise Pyongyang with modern methods and technologies.

A North Korean representative in Russia revealed it marks the first joint initiative between the two nuclear superpowers in geology and resource development.

It comes as the relationship between Putin and Kim Jong-Un — the Supreme Leader of North Koea — is becoming more intimate, following various collaborations including Pyongyang supplying troops to Russia for their ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

IRNITU Rector Mikhail Kornyakov added the university already trains North Korean students in a range of other disciplines, not just geology but also information technology, engineering and energy.

This new venture arises at a time when North Korea find themselves under intense scrutiny over its nuclear activities.

Whether it's the development of new, destructive and dangerous nuclear weapons, or the construction of enrichment facilities — like the one discovered in Yongbyon via satellite imagery — this does nothing to squash any fears of the outbreak of World War 3.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi stressed in June that undeclared enrichment facilities are a matter of "serious concern" and are clear violations of UN Security Council resolutions.

Both Russia and North Korea are two of the world's leaders in nuclear technology. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANW) states Moscow possesses the largest stockpile consisting of around 5,977 warheads, while it says Pyongyang sits at around 50 but this is expected to be much more and to rise sharply in the forseeable future.