The FINANCIAL — The UK strongly condemns Russia’s decision to use ballistic missiles sourced from North Korea in recent attacks against Ukraine. We urge North Korea to cease its arms supply to Russia”, UK’s Foreign Office spokesperson said.
In October, the White House said that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Moscow.
“Russia is turning to North Korea for its weapons in pursuit of its cynical and ill-conceived military aims in Ukraine. This is symptomatic of its isolation on the world stage and a sign of its desperation. Furthermore, this activity is in violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions – which Russia supported as a Permanent Member.
“Any support for North Korea’s own illegal weapons programmes risks significantly undermining the UN’s long standing commitment to security, and further destabilising the region”, statement reads.
North Korea is subject to a robust sanctions regime, and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.
North Korea has most likely supplied several types of missiles to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, along with its widely reported shipments of ammunition and shells, South Korea’s military said in November 2023.
In September 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as “nonsense” the rumors suggesting that North Korea plans to deploy its soldiers to participate in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
During a news conference in Sochi following a meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Putin stated that Russia has a sufficient number of its own combatants and does not need to invite people from outside for combat operations.
“I want to emphasize this again, 300,000 people signed contracts and came as volunteers,” he stressed.
Commenting on the Western assessments that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia could exacerbate tensions in the region, Putin said “the largest threats in the world are created by today’s ruling elites.”
As of 20 March 2020, North Korea has carried out 147 tests of strategic missiles since its first such test in 1984. 15 were carried out under the rule of Kim Il Sung and 16 under Kim Jong Il. Under Kim Jong Un, 119 tests have been undertaken as of December, 2019.
North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands on Friday, prompting evacuation orders for their residents, Seoul’s defense ministry and local officials said.
The live firing follows repeated warnings from Kim Jong Un’s regime in Pyongyang that it is prepared for war against South Korea and its U.S. ally.
“The North Korean military conducted over 200 rounds of firing today from around 09:00 to 11:00 (1200 to 0200 GMT) in the areas of Jangsan-got in the northern part of Baengnyeong Island and the northern areas… of Yeonpyeong Island,” a defense ministry official said at a briefing.
A report published this year by the US Congressional Research Service cited external estimates of North Korea possessing enough material for “20 to 60 warheads”.
North Korea is also pursuing the development of smaller warheads to fit a variety of delivery systems, it said.
In March this year, Mr Kim called for expanded production of “weapon-grade nuclear materials” as North Korea unveiled what appeared to be a new, smaller tactical nuclear warhead.
North Korea will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, Kim Jong Un has declared, as his nation vowed to put three new military spy satellites into orbit in 2024.
Kim said inter-Korean relations had become “a relationship between two hostile countries and two belligerents at war,” the state-run news agency KCNA reported.
“It’s time for us to acknowledge the reality and clarify our relationship with the South,” Kim said, adding that if Washington and Seoul were to attempt a military confrontation with Pyongyang, its “nuclear war deterrent will not hesitate to take serious action.”
“I believe that it is a mistake that we must no longer make to deal with the people who declare us as ‘the main enemy’ and seek only opportunities for ‘[our] regime collapse’ and ‘unification by absorption’ by collaborating for reconciliation and unification,” Kim added.
Missiles of North Korea
According to Missile Defense Project, North Korea’s short- and medium-range systems include a host of artillery and short-range rockets, including its legacy Scud-based and No-Dong missiles. In 2019, North Korea tested a range of new short-range, solid-fueled missiles such as the KN-23 and KN-25.
North Korea has said that any move to intercept and shoot down its test missiles would be considered “a declaration of war”.
North Korea has also made strides towards long-range missile technology, testing for the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-14, in July 2017. This was followed by a test of a heavier ICBM design, the Hwasong-15, in November 2017. North Korea developed some of this technology under the auspices of its Unha (Taepo-Dong 2) space launch program, which it has used to put crude satellites into orbit. North Korea has displayed two other long-range ballistic missiles, the KN-08 and KN-14, but thus far these missiles have not been flight-tested, and it is unclear whether they are still active development programs.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s young daughter, who has accompanied him to missile tests and military parades, is his “most likely” successor, the South’s spy agency said, according to BBC.
North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile program was one of the primary motives for the decision to develop and deploy the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense System to protect the U.S. homeland.
Missiles
Several other countries have bought North Korean ballistic missiles or have received assistance from North Korea to establish local missile production.
Egypt
Egypt has received technologies and assistance for manufacture of both the Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, and may have provided guidance systems or information on longer-range missiles to North Korea from the Condor/Badr program.
Iran
Iran was one of the first countries to buy North Korean missiles. Iran has established local production for the Hwasong-5 (Shahab-1), Hwasong-6 (Shahab-2) and the Rodong-1 (Shahab-3). Iran also possesses 19 land-based BM25 Musudan missiles, according to a leaked, classified U.S. State Department cable,[250] Iran designated the Musudan as Khorramshahr. This nuclear-capable missile is currently under development and failed its two known flight tests.
Pakistan
North Korean entities continued to provide assistance to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program during the first half of 1999 in return for nuclear weapons technology. Such assistance was critical to Islamabad’s efforts to produce ballistic missiles. In April 1998, Pakistan flight-tested the Ghauri MRBM, which is based on North Korea’s Nodong missile. Also in April 1998, the United States imposed sanctions against Pakistani and North Korean entities for their role in transferring Missile Technology Control Regime Category I ballistic missile-related technology.
Syria
Syria originally obtained the Scud-B from North Korea. North Korea may have assisted Syria in development of the Scud-C and/or the Scud-D. As of 2013, Syria relies on foreign assistance from multiple countries, including North Korea, for advanced missile components and technologies. In 2018, a United Nations report alleged that North Korea had been sending technicians and material to Syria to assist in its chemical weapons program, including acid-resistant tiles, valves, and thermometers.
United Arab Emirates
25 Hwasong-5s were purchased from North Korea in 1989. The UAE Union Defence Force were not satisfied with the quality of the missiles, and they were kept in storage.
Vietnam
Vietnam reportedly ordered Hwasong-5/6 missiles in 1998–99, but it is unclear if this deal was fulfilled.
Yemen
Yemen is known to have bought Scud missiles from North Korea in the 1990s—a total of 15 missiles, conventional warheads and fuel oxidizer.
Former export partners Libya Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi had been known to receive technological assistance, blueprints and missile parts from North Korea.
Rejection by a potential export partner Nigeria In January 2004, the Nigerian government announced that North Korea had agreed to sell its missile technology, but a month later Nigeria rejected the agreement under U.S. pressure.
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