North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian troops since late December "were much more accurate than volleys of weapons fired over the past year," citing two senior Ukrainian sources, Reuters reports, UNN writes.
Details
"While Moscow's growing ties with Pyongyang are causing alarm from Washington to Seoul, the increase in accuracy - within 50-100 meters of the intended target - suggests that North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology," the newspaper writes, citing sources. Previously, "the accuracy of the missiles was 1-3 kilometers," a military source said in an interview in Kyiv, revealing for the first time a previously unpublished estimate. The source declined to publicly disclose what the target was, where the missiles were fired from, or the dates of the attacks, citing military secrecy.
The military source, as noted, "described a marked improvement in the accuracy of more than 20 North Korean ballistic missiles that have hit Ukraine in the past few weeks." A second source, a senior government official familiar with the matter, "confirmed the findings" when asked, the newspaper said.
Yang Wook, an arms expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said such improvements in North Korea's missile capabilities have worrying implications for its potential to threaten South Korea, Japan and the United States or to sell modernized weapons to "failed" states or armed groups.
"This could affect stability in the region and the world," he said.
Military expert Yang said that his security contacts in Ukraine also independently reported "improvements in North Korea's latest batch of missiles.
"As they produce missiles and get feedback from their customers, the Russian army, they have more experience in producing more reliable missiles," he said.
The sources and Yang said that "it is unclear what modifications North Korea has made," the newspaper writes.
A military source said that "forensic analysis conducted on the wreckage revealed no changes in the design of the missiles, although there is very little wreckage left to analyze.
According to the source, "two possible explanations were that the missiles were equipped with better navigation systems or a control mechanism to facilitate maneuvering," the newspaper notes.
Other factors that could improve accuracy include better guidance information for crews, new guidance system components provided by Russia, and improvements based on data and experience that North Korean scientists gathered during the war, Yang said.
"Russia began launching North Korean short-range ballistic missiles K-23, K-23A and K-24 at Ukraine in late 2023 and has since fired about 100," the source said.
According to the source, "the increase in the accuracy of the weapon came suddenly, after months of inaccurate launches."
Reuters, as noted, was unable to independently verify the sources' assessment.
Recall
In February 2024, the SBU stated that the Security Service documented the facts of Russian air attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure using long-range weapons from North Korea - these are ballistic missiles of the Hwasong-11 (KN-23/24) type, which are produced in the DPRK.