Kim may sell Putin a new type of ballistic missiles, South Korean defense minister warns
North Korea may sell new types of tactical guided missiles to Russia in addition to its alleged supply of short-range ballistic missiles for use by Moscow in its war against Ukraine. North Korea may also conduct further weapons tests to escalate tensions on the eve of elections in South Korea and the United States, the South Korean Defense Minister, Shin Won-sik, said in an interview with the Yonhap news agency.
According to the North Korean propaganda outlet KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited weapons factories on Wednesday and pointed out recent "shortcomings" in the production of ammunition, emphasizing the strategic importance of major types of weapons. He inspected mobile short-range missile launchers.
South Korea's defense chief suggested that the visit could be related to North Korea's alleged supply of weapons to Russia as the two countries step up their military cooperation.
Shin Won-sik said North Korea could test intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missiles as early as January 2024 and could launch a long-range missile "at normal angles" to escalate ahead of key elections in South Korea and the United States.
"North Korea first test-fired a close-range ballistic missile in April 2022. It is a new type of weapon with an estimated range of 100-180 kilometers," Won-sik said.
He added that while North Korea has previously said it is deploying these missiles for front-line troops, it may sell at least some of them to Russia, given recent suspicions of short-range ballistic missile sales.
"Given the recent arms trade, (I think) North Korea could sell them to Russia," the official said, referring to North Korea's alleged sale of KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
According to the minister's estimates, as of the end of December 2023, North Korea has provided Russia with about 5,000 weapons containers that can hold about 2.3 million 152-mm shells or about 400,000 122-mm artillery shells.
Won-sik expressed concern about Russia's possible provision of technological assistance to North Korea's weapons program in exchange for arms trade, including Pyongyang's spy satellite.
On January 4, 2024, the WSJ wrote that North Korea had already transferred ballistic missiles to Russia. Ukraine's Defense Intelligence is checking these reports.
On the same day, the White House confirmed that Russia received ballistics from North Korea and used them during attacks on Ukraine on December 29 and January 2.
On January 5, Washington's ambassador to the UN said that the United States expects that Russia will continue to use ballistic missiles from North Korea to strike critical infrastructure in Ukraine and kill civilians.
Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2014-2019, Pavlo Klimkin said in an interview with LIGA.net that North Korea is gaining combat experience in the use of ballistic missiles by transferring them to Russia. This, in his opinion, threatens not only Ukraine, but also Western allies.
