The Russian-launched missile that hit a building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in northeastern Ukraine, on January 2 was different in shape to anything found so far.
Kristina Kimachuk, a Ukrainian researcher at Conflict Armament Research (CAR), was able to observe and photograph these pieces of missiles in the capital Kiev.
The screws and computer chips were smaller than his fingernails. Kimachuk knew immediately that this was not Russia. And among the many remains of metal and wires, North Korean letters written on the parts and the number ‘112’, which refers to the year of North Korea’s Juche, were found. This corresponds to 2023.
Foreign electronic components found by dissecting the remains of a North Korean short-range missile that struck a building in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, in January. The number ‘112’, which refers to the Juche year of 2023, and the North Korean font ‘ㅈ’ are written on it. / BBC
Afterwards, the Ukrainian military announced that more than 24 people had been killed and more than 70 injured by North Korean ballistic missiles fired by Russia.
The North Korean missile that struck Kharkiv appeared to be a Hwasong-11, North Korea’s most advanced short-range missile. Hwaseong-11 flies 700 km.
The British BBC reported on the 5th, “Most of the core electronic components installed in North Korea’s missiles supplied to Russia were produced in the United States and Europe over the past few years, and even semiconductor chips were used -American conductors produced in March 2023 in the North. Korean missiles “It was reported.
The BBC said, “North Korean arms and economic sanctions experts have also been surprised by the fact that North Korea has illegally bought key foreign components and sent them into the country, and that North Korean missiles manufactured with these core components are sent to the front line. of Russia’s attack on Ukraine launched in just a few months “He said.
“The most surprising thing is that despite the severe economic sanctions of the last 20 years, North Korea has been able to get all the products needed to produce weapons and produce them very quickly,” said Damien Splitters, deputy chief executive of CAR , to the broadcaster.
How can computer chips, a key component of modern weapons that guide missiles to their targets in the air, get into North Korea? Crackers said, “The computer chips that go into North Korea’s missiles are the same ones used in smartphones, washing machines and cars, and billions of these products are produced every year around the world without knowing their final use.”
Joseph Byrne, a North Korea expert at the Royal Joint Military Institute (RUSI) in London, England, also expressed surprise at North Korea’s ability to illegally purchase key components for weapons. “The North Korean procurement network has become stronger and more efficient than Western investigators realize,” he said.
“North Korea often sets up shell companies in Hong Kong or Central Asian countries, buys goods with stolen money (through cyber hacking), and sends the parts to North Korea through the border with China,” he said. Byrne from RUSI caught us.” “If we are punished, we will set up another company soon,” he said.
China and Russia also help North Korea make illegal purchases. Both countries have refused to extend economic sanctions against North Korea after 2017, and Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is involved in arms trading with North Korea, violating sanctions against North Korea which have been approved.
At the end of March, Russia refused to extend and disband the expert panel that had been investigating violations of UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea. The intention was to hide the arms trade between Russia and North Korea and to ease the pressure of sanctions against North Korea. “I never thought North Korean ballistic missiles would be used to kill people on European soil,” Byrne said.
RUSI has been tracking North Korean arms shipments to Russia since Kim Jong-un and Putin agreed to an arms deal in September last year. Through satellite images, it was confirmed that four Russian cargo ships were transporting hundreds of containers at a time between the North Korean Port of Rajin and the Vostochny Military Port in Russia. According to RUSI analysis, 7,000 containers loaded with more than 1 million artillery shells and multiple truck-launched rocket launchers have been transported so far.
On the contrary, last March, RUSI confirmed that hundreds of millions of kilograms of rice and flour entered North Korea by train from Russia. Russian crude oil and this food fatten not only the North Korean economy but also the North Korean military.
However, the biggest concern among Western military experts is the ballistic missiles that North Korea is supplying to Russia and their impact. This is because it reveals information about North Korea’s weapons program.
North Korea has been selling missiles and various weapons to the Middle East and Africa since the 1980s. But most were based on infamous Soviet-era missiles and weapons. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas also fired a North Korean rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) during a surprise attack on October 7.
Ukrainian authorities evaluated the accuracy of North Korean missiles as low. However, Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on North Korean weapons and nuclear non-proliferation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in the United States, told the BBC, “North Korea’s missiles do not appear to be inferior to Russian missiles.”
Lewis said, “The advantage of North Korean ballistic missiles in particular is that they are very cheap and can be launched in large quantities to overwhelm air defense networks. “In reality, Russia is using this tactic,” he said. Looking at satellite images, he estimated that North Korea’s factories currently operating at full capacity could produce hundreds of missiles a year.
The BBC said, “What is more serious in the future is that the war in Ukraine becomes a window for North Korea to sell missiles to the world.” North Korean missiles that are useful to Russia are not only useful to other countries, but Russia also acts as a ‘model’ for countries that wish to buy them that it is okay to break economic sanctions against North Korea.
What has become clear this time is how dependent North Korea is on foreign computer chips. CAR’s Splitters told the BBC: “In the future, we can share information with computer chip manufacturers to block the flow of information to North Korea, and we are already seeing results.”
But Dr. was pessimistic. Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He said, “It may make it more difficult and inconvenient for North Korea to buy and raise prices, but ultimately it will not stop North Korea from manufacturing missiles. Moreover, now that missiles have become a new source of income, will Kim Jong-un give this up?”
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