North Korea’s mid-range ballistic missile systems spotted in Russia: expert

TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea is supplying its medium-range KN-15 ballistic missile system to Russia for its war in Ukraine, a Ukrainian defense researcher said, citing evidence of video footage of what he said was a train carrying the system through Russia.

North Korea has been suspected of sending weapons to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine. South Korea said in October that the North had sent about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia over the previous two months, bringing the total number of containers to 20,000.

“Another echelon with Korean equipment spotted in the Tyumen region. Shown are 10 M1989 Koksan and presumably 4 Pukguksong-2 IRBMs (2500 km),” said Andriy Tarasenko on his Telegram channel on Sunday, sharing a 19-second video as evidence.

M1989 Koksan refers to a North Korean self-propelled 170 mm artillery system, while Pukguksong-2 is the North’s KN-15, a medium-range ballistic missile carrier.

The published video, purportedly filmed in central Russia’s Tyumen region, shows a train with freight cars, platforms with excavators, self-propelled artillery systems, and five tracked vehicles with a cylindrical top.

The video quality makes it difficult to identify the type of vehicles, but they bear a striking resemblance to the KN-15 missile system when compared to publicly available photos of North Korean missile systems.

Radio Free Asia has not been able to independently verify the video.

(Wong Maye-E/AP)

North Korea first test fired the KN-15 in February 2017. The system made its debut at a military parade in Pyongyang in April of the same year.

The maximum range of the ballistic missile in the KN-15 system is not known but Western analysts think it is about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles).

During its first launch, the South Korean military reported that the missile reached an altitude of 550 kilometers, traveled about 500 kilometers, and landed in the sea to the east of Japan.

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Russia already operates North Korean Hwasong-11 short-range ballistic missile systems against Ukraine.

United Nations sanctions monitors told a Security Council committee in April that debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in January was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile.

Separately, a Ukrainian defense intelligence unit reported in November that North Korea has sent more than 100 KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles to Russia, along with military specialists, to support its war with Ukraine

The U.S. and its allies have accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, which it fully invaded in February 2022.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the accusations, and their military ties have deepened since June when leaders from the two countries signed a landmark treaty on a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” which included a mutual defense assistance clause that applies in the case of “aggression” against either of the signatories.

The U.S. and Ukraine estimate there are between 10,000 and 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, with their focus on Kursk, parts of which Ukrainian forces occupied in August, where they are actively engaged in fighting and are taking casualties.

Neither President Vladimir Putin nor North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed it.

Edited by Mike Firn.