Kim Jong Un's first ballistic missiles to his friend Putin launched from 450 km into Ukraine. This is how the KN-24s arrived in Russia, produced where and from which Korean ports

In the attacks on Ukraine on December 29 and January 2, Russia most likely used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time, through long-running exchanges that had long worried Western intelligence. This was communicated by the spokesperson of the National Security Council at the White House, John Kirby, as one of the missiles fell (accidentally? Or are they doing tests on the skin of Ukrainians?) in a field 450 kilometers away from the launch base, in southwestern Russia.

Kirby actually explained – also in surprising detail – that the Korean missiles had a range of about 900 km, and also showed a graph that seemed to be centered on the KN-23 and KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles. 25 (SRBM). Most likely it is this family of missiles, also judging from the Osint research which has so far been based on some photos and open geolocations. Joost Oliemans, Dutch researcher and author of some of the main studies on the North Korean armed forces and Kim Jong-Un, claims that the images coming from Ukrainian social media clearly show the fragments of the ring that houses the control tubes, which they are characteristic of North Korea's Hwasong-11 family of missiles, which includes the KN-23 and KN-24. The solid-fuel KN-23 was first tested in May 2019 and is designed to evade missile defenses by flying on a lower, “depressed” trajectory, as experts say. A kind of angel flight (of death), which makes it particularly difficult to intercept: «Despite the external characteristics and the declarations of some, this family of missiles does not appear to be substantially related to the Russian 9K720 Iskander, and is instead a North Korean development» , explains Oliemans.

The KN-24 instead bears a distinct resemblance to the US Army's MGM-140 tactical missile system (the well-known ATACMS) and, like the KN-23, is designed to evade missile defenses by flying on a flatter trajectory than traditional ballistic missiles . According to scholars from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “North Korean technical consultants could be present in Russia to give advice on the use of these systems.”

Looking at that range of 460 km, the distance at which the Korean missile fell in Ukraine, when the maximum for that system is 900 km, some hypotheses are possible for the moment, notes Dara Massicot, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: «Was it a shooting error (it landed in an empty field), a deliberate lofting of the missile to shorten the range (effective range versus maximum kinematic range), or a targeting choice?». Western intelligence officials, consulted by La Stampa, are convinced that this was intentional. And that Kim is using Ukraine as an operating and testing table, thus obtaining a double gain: because the other element of the agreement with Putin is that Moscow would provide planes to the North Koreans.

It should be noted that Storm Shadow, SCALD and ATACM – the Western analogue missiles – have a range less than the 460 km of the Russian launch, while 460 km remains less than the range of the German Taurus missiles (500 km). What is certain is that, according to the concept of reciprocity, “at least the Russians have established a new precedent of use for foreign-supplied missiles in this war, at a range of 460 km.” Although, Massicot observes, it cannot be ruled out that the Russian launch ranges of the Korean missile were well over 500 kilometers.

In this situation it remains particularly incomprehensible that the United States and Germany are shy (the US) or still refuse (Berlin) to deliver powerful ballistic missiles (ATACMS and Taurus respectively), while Iran and North Korea largely give them to Russia.

According to a series of reports that were provided based on information from South Korea to Western allies, North Korea has been using the port of Rason on the northeast coast since August 2023 to open it to Russian military-related ships, and photographed from satellite images. In November, two thousand containers suspected of carrying weapons, and these ballistic missiles, left Rason. Where KN-24 supplies arrive notably from an armaments factory in Sinhung (where there are gruesome photos of Kim Jong-Un visiting).

Since late 2022, activity has been spotted around Rason's Tumangang station, which has rail links to Russia, satellite images around Rason show. More wagons were spotted after Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu's visit to Pyongyang in July. We know so many things, in Europe and in the United States, but we have not managed to stop the trafficking of this axis of dictatorships against democracies.