Russia's use of North Korean-made ballistic missiles could reveal crucial new information about the secretive nation's missile programs in the face of increasingly aggressive rhetoric from Pyongyang.
At the start of the year, the White House said Russia had used North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles and launchers against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.
"Our information indicates that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, referring to North Korea by its official name.
In a later statement, the U.S. and a slew of its allies said Russia had used Pyongyang-supplied ballistic missiles against Ukraine on December 30, 2023, and on January 2. From December 29, Moscow launched a series of massive air campaigns on Ukraine in the most intensified period of missile strikes of the war.
"Russia's use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine also provides valuable technical and military insights to the DPRK," the statement read.
There is a wealth of information and intelligence to be gained from Moscow's deployment of North Korean missiles in Ukraine, said Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
North Korea's missile program is shrouded in secrecy, and Western intelligence likely knows far less about Pyongyang's missile development compared to that of countries like Iran, he told Newsweek.
Even without examining the missile wreckage, there is a lot to learn about the missiles' operational flight profile, including their range, how they fly and how well Western air defenses perform against them, he said. From this, it's then possible to work out how to improve Western-made systems like the Patriot to combat this threat.
Their use in Ukraine could also be helpful in discerning the quality of North Korean missile manufacturing, how accurate the missiles are under combat conditions, he added. Pulling apart the wreckage of the missiles would also reveal details about how the guidance system works, how advanced it is, information about the propellent, Hinz argued.
It could also pull back the curtain on the quality of North Korean electronics, their origins and supply chains, including whether Pyongyang is sourcing components through intermediaries, he said.
North Korea has previously exported some of its older missiles, but very little is known about its newer generation weapons, Hinz added.
"Having a chance to look at them up close would be really valuable," helping to work out just how much foreign input Pyongyang is receiving for its missiles, he said.
The South Korean representative to the United Nations, Hwang Joon-kook, told a U.N. Security Council session on Wednesday that Pyongyang has used Ukraine as a "test site of its nuclear-capable missiles."
"The introduction of North Korean missiles into the war in Ukraine has a significant implication on global nuclear non-proliferation," he added.
Russia is believed to have used KN-23 solid-fuel rockets, which are North Korean short-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
North Korea has recently conducted a spate of missile tests that the U.S. has condemned as a violation of U.N. resolutions.
In mid-December, North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, which a Japanese official described as putting the "whole of the U.S. territory" in range. Just hours earlier, North Korea had fired a short-range ballistic missile.
A spokesperson for North Korea's Defense Ministry said on December 17 that the U.S. and South Korea would "finish the end of the year with a preview of a nuclear war."
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek in December that North Korea has "engaged in threatening and irresponsible rhetoric regarding its weapons programs, including by characterizing some of its missile launches and other military activities as trial runs for the use of tactical nuclear weapons."
Russia has been upping its missile strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting key Ukrainian energy infrastructure and defense facilities across the country. Western experts have suggested Russia has burned through a significant number of missiles of various types, but that Moscow is unlikely to entirely drain its stockpiles with these barrages.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
