North Korea was found to have imported 475 million dollars worth of arms and weapon parts from abroad for ten years since 1999 despite its chronic food shortages.

The recent assessment was made in a document that Grand National Party lawmaker Lee Cheol-woo obtained from a government official on Friday.

According to the document, North Korea bought 90 million dollars worth of helicopters and tank engines from Russia and four other nations in 1999 and in 2000 bought 110 million dollars worth of aircraft parts and radars from China and eight other nations.

Around 83 percent of the arms the North bought were found to have been imported mainly between 1999 and 2002.

Lee said the North is likely to have spent a large portion of financial assistance provided by South Korea in buying weapons from abroad given that most of the arms were bought during the Kim Dae-jung administration which pursued its “sunshine policy” of peaceful engagement with Pyongyang.

According to the document, the North engaged in more than 100 military exchanges between 1999 and 2002 with socialist countries or nations in the Middle East and Africa, including Cuba, Angola, Libya, Syria, Tanzania and Uganda.