Russia is using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, says a new Pentagon report that used debris analysis to confirm long-standing accusations that Moscow is receiving weapons from Korea North. The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) used open source imagery to confirm that debris found in January in the Kharkiv region of northwestern Ukraine, came from a short-range ballistic missile produced in North Korea.
“North Korean missile debris found across Ukraine”
The DIA compared images broadcast by North Korean state media with photographs of these missile fragments discovered in Ukraine. “The analysis confirms that Russia is using ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine,” the American agency said in a statement released Wednesday with the publication of the report.
“North Korean missile debris was found across Ukraine,” according to the same source. Seoul accuses Pyongyang of having transported thousands of weapons containers to Russia in defiance of United Nations sanctions targeting the two countries: Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and North Korea for its nuclear program.
North Korean power denies
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and one of the government’s top spokespeople, refuted the accusations as “absurd” in May, saying Pyongyang had “no intention of “export its military technical capabilities to any country whatsoever”. Experts say North Korea’s recent series of tests, including cruise missiles and other ballistic projectiles, could be linked to the shipment of weapons to Russian troops in Ukraine.
The South Korean Defense Ministry told AFP that it had no comment to make on the report. Among the photos on which the DIA relies are images released by Pyongyang after a visit by the North Korean leader to military factories in August 2023 to inspect tactical missiles and launch vehicles, observes Hong Min, analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
These images “seem to provide clear proof of their use” in Ukraine and “clearly demonstrate that Kim Yo Jong’s recent statement denying the transfer of Russian weapons is blatantly false,” Hong Min told AFP.
A rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang?
Pyongyang and Moscow have strengthened their ties in recent months. In March, Moscow vetoed the UN Security Council to dissolve the UN sanctions monitoring system against Pyongyang. In 2023, Kim Jong Un made a rare overseas trip to Russia for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A trip by the Russian leader to North Korea is in preparation, the Kremlin told Russian media in May.
According to Hong Min, the recent series of North Korean tests appears to be part of “efforts to provide additional weapons to Russia ahead of President Putin’s visit to North Korea.” Soo Kim, a former analyst at the CIA, the main American intelligence agency, told AFP she was not surprised by the Russian use of North Korean missiles.
“What is worrying, however, is the ongoing and uninhibited cooperation between the two nations,” said Soo Kim, who now works for the LMI Consulting firm. “As time passes and the conflict escalates, the extent of (their) cooperation is expected to increase and diversify,” adds the specialist.