- North Koreans assist Russia with missile systems
- Ukrainian strike kills North Korean personnel
- Moscow, Pyongyang deny weapons and troop deals
North Korean military engineers have been deployed to assist Russia in targeting Ukraine with ballistic missiles, and North Koreans operating in Ukrainian-occupied territory have already been killed, according to top authorities in Kyiv and Seoul.
There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian borders, working on “launcher systems for KN-23 missiles.”
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, travelled to Russia last year for a summit with Vladimir Putin, during which the two men strengthened their growing ties through a secret arms deal.
Pyongyang’s munitions deliveries were critical in allowing Russian soldiers to advance in an attrition war in eastern Ukraine this summer. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that the deal extended beyond the supply of materials.
North Koreans were among those killed in last week’s Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials. It was unclear whether they were military engineers or other forces.
Foreigners have fought as mercenaries for Russia, but if North Koreans are on the ground, it will be the first time a foreign country has dispatched uniformed troops to back Moscow’s conflict.
South Korea’s defence minister, Kim Yong-Hyun, told MPs in Seoul this week that it was “highly likely” that North Korean personnel were dispatched to fight with Russians and that some had been killed in the attack. Still, he did not provide any other information.
Andriy Kovalenko, the chairman of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said in a Telegram post that some North Koreans had been slain in Russia. His organization is part of the National Security and Defense Council.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed North Korean ammunition in a raid on storage in the Bryansk region, 60 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Joining the conflict in Ukraine allows North Korea to test weapons, obtain battle experience for its troops, and strengthen its relationship with a robust international partner.
“For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it’s crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the AFP news agency. “This might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers – to provide them with diverse experiences and wartime training.”
North Korean missiles and shells are of low quality and unreliable, but they have proved critical in keeping Russian artillery blazing relentlessly at Ukraine’s better-trained and determined army.
According to a Ukrainian source, Pyongyang delivered over half of the larger-calibre ammunition used on the battlefield this year, totalling more than 2 million rounds. It also provided KN-23 rockets, which were used in dozens of strikes in Ukraine last winter, according to Ukrainian media. After a several-month hiatus, they were deployed again in July.
The KN-23 is a short-range ballistic missile initially tested in 2019 and compared to Russia’s Iskander-M missiles. It is estimated to have a range of roughly 280 miles (450 kilometres) while carrying a 500kg warhead.
Despite publicly celebrating growing ties in recent months, Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons sales. Neither country has responded to allegations of troop deployments.
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In a birthday card delivered this week, Kim referred to Putin as his “closest comrade.” Putin paid a state visit to North Korea in June, during which the two signed a mutual aid deal.
In exchange for missiles and other military gear, North Korea is reported to be looking for Russian assistance with its spy satellite program, which has suffered embarrassing failures over the last two years.
It is unclear how far Russia is willing to go in providing sensitive military technologies to North Korea in exchange for sustained backing in Ukraine.
Pyongyang is aiming to develop ties with Russia and China as part of an alliance against “Western hegemony and imperialism” following decades of UN-led sanctions targeting its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.
The tactic paid off in March, when Russia used its veto in the UN Security Council to effectively stop the UN monitoring of sanctions violators, a move Pyongyang publicly applauded.
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