Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has said that the weapons her country is developing are not meant for export to Russia, but for defense against South Korea. 

In a statement carried by the North’s state Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Friday, the vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee said that the recently unveiled tactical weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers and missiles, were created only for defense.

Kim stressed that the North has no intention of exporting or disclosing its military technology to any country, rejecting speculations that the North is developing weapons for export to Russia. 

Calling the accusations of North Korea-Russia arms deals "absurd," Kim emphasized that its activities in the national defense sector are in accordance with the five-year national development plan, which is intended to strengthen the combat power of the North’s military. 

Recent inspections of test firings of multiple rocket launch systems by the North Korean leader raised speculation that Pyongyang seems to be accelerating the development of rocket launcher shells to provide them to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.