North Korean missiles fired at Ukraine by russia become much more accurate since late December – Reuters

North Korean ballistic missiles launched by the aggressor state russia at Ukraine since late December have been much more accurate than those launched over the past year.

Reuters reported this, citing senior Ukrainian sources.

Thus, according to the sources, the increase in accuracy to 50-100 m from the intended target indicates that North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology.

An anonymous military source spoke about a noticeable increase in the accuracy of all more than 20 North Korean ballistic missiles that have hit Ukraine in the past few weeks. A second source, a senior government official, confirmed these findings to Reuters.

Yang Uk, an arms expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said such improvements to North Korea’s missile capabilities have worrying implications for its ability to threaten South Korea, Japan and the United States or sell modernized weapons to “failed” states or armed groups.

North Korea’s military programs have been rapidly developing in recent years, including short- and medium-range missiles that Pyongyang says can be equipped with nuclear warheads. However, until its involvement in Ukraine, the long-isolated country had never tested the new weapon in combat.

Yang, a military expert, said his security contacts in Ukraine also independently reported the upgrades in recent batches of North Korean missiles.

“As they are making missiles and getting feedback from the customers – the Russian army – then they have more experience making more reliable missiles,” he explained.

The sources and Yang said it was unclear what modifications North Korea had made.

A military source said forensic analysis of the debris showed no changes to the missile's design, although there was very little debris left to analyze.

The source suggested that two possible explanations were that the missiles were equipped with better navigation systems or steering gear to make maneuvering easier.

Yang said other factors that could have improved accuracy include better targeting information for the crews, new guidance system components provided by russia, and improvements based on data and experience North Korean scientists gained during the war.

At the start of the war, the missiles were accurate to within 1 to 3 kilometers, but the latest missiles have been able to reach within 50 to 100 meters, the source said. The source declined to publicly say what the target was, where the missiles were launched from, or the dates of the attacks, citing military secrecy.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service announced that North Korean troops deployed to support russia’s war against Ukraine appear not to have been taking part in combat operations in russia’s Kursk Oblast since mid-January.

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