North Korea and Russia Create World's Cheapest Delivery Service — Competitor to Liepāja Port

North Korea has proven they are true friends — since summer 2023, four ships have made 112 trips to Russia, delivering eight to 11 million rounds of ammunition. That's approximately 350,000 rounds per month, which would last the Russian army for a whole month. While Riga port is still figuring out how to more efficiently reload containers, North Korea has been operating its exclusive 'Ammunition Express' route for four years.

As noted by Edgars, a logistics student at Liepāja University: 'This is a wonderful example of how to maintain long-term customer relationships. They don't stop deliveries even when the whole world doesn't like it.' True, shipments began decreasing since fall 2024, and since early 2025 only one trip has been recorded. Perhaps North Korea finally realized that they sometimes need ammunition at home too.

Now North Korea has sent thousands of its soldiers to Russia to help recapture the Kursk region. As Liepāja pensioner Marija says: 'In our time, friends helped with moving, these help with war. Times change, but friendship remains.' The Kremlin and Pyongyang have now officially confirmed that North Korean forces are participating in the war, since apparently hiding was no longer profitable.

While Riga is still trying to understand how such cooperation is even possible, in Liepāja we know — if it's true friendship, then even international sanctions are not an obstacle. True, our friends usually help with moving, not with ammunition, but in principle it's the same thing — help in times of need.