Kremlin on report about oil supplies to North Korea: we value our ties

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it valued its relations with North Korea, when asked about a report that Russia has been shipping refined petroleum to North Korea at levels that appear to breach a cap set by the United Nations Security Council. "We value our bilateral relations with North Korea and intend to further develop them in all possible areas," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

North Korea, he said, was "our good and very promising partner." Reuters on Tuesday cited an unidentified U.S. official as saying that Russian shipments of refined petroleum had already pushed North Korean imports "above the 500,000-barrel annual cap mandated by the U.N. Security Council".