The ballistic missile factory used by Russia in Ukraine that North Korea is expanding

According to the CNN networkthe factory produces the missiles KN-23 (Hwasong-11A) and KN-24 (Hwasong-11B). At the beginning of this year, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported that remains of these missiles had been found in Ukrainian territory after attacks carried out by Russia.

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According to the DIA, on January 2, in a Russian attack on the city of Kharkovwas used a North Korean short-range missile. That attack was the first in which Ukraine denounced the use of military material manufactured in North Korea by Russia.

In April, UN sanctions monitors confirmed to a Security Council committee that debris from the missile that landed in Kharkov January 2 They came from a North Korean ballistic missile of the Hwasong-11 series.

CNN reported that the complex is located in Hamhungthe second largest city in North Korea. He added that the factory has been visited on several occasions by the North Korean leader. Kim Jong-unand the country’s state media has promoted its serial production of tactical missiles.

According to the military authorities of Ukrainein recent weeks the country was affected by the increase in ballistic missile attacks by Russiaof which, they calculate, a third were of North Korean origin.

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Russia fired about 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles at Ukraine this yearCNN reported.

The satellite images analyzed by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies reveal that North Korea is expanding Hamhung facilities and constructing a second building for the final assembly of missilesas well as new housing for workers.

“It appears that this is an attempt to increase the throughput of the production line they have established,” he told CNN. Sam Lair, associate researcher of James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Lair told CNN that in recent years investigators have seen a large expansion at the facility, called the “February 11 plant.” The plant’s size began to increase in 2020, and has since undergone routine upgrades such as repairing older buildings and replacing roofs.

However, he added that the new building, probably intended for the assembly of missilesindicates “that They are not just improving an element of the production line, but they are trying to expand it”.

The new building of missile assembly It is approximately 60% to 70% larger than the original building, Lair estimated to CNN.

Researchers also told CNN that in August 2023, Kim Jong-un visited the plant, where he watched tail kits being added to class missiles Hwasong-11nozzles were installed and the warhead cones of short-range ballistic missiles were finished.

North Korea needs a nuclear umbrella

The international analyst Francesco Tucci considers cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang predictable.

“Russia mainly needs artillery ammunition and other weapons. It also requires the military, that’s why North Korea It has sent between 12,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Putin wants to avoid another mobilization in Russia, and the human factor is important in this conflict. We already know that Ukraine has a serious troop problemdoes not have enough to be able to counter a Russian human avalanche. It is holding on thanks to a notable effort by the recruits, the volunteers, the professional soldiers at its disposal, and the flow, which has not always been constant, of weapons sent by the countries of the NATO and of USA”he stated to The Commerce.

Tucci highlighted that the flow of weapons to Ukraine is intensifying before the change of command in USA next January 20, but he believes that when he enters donald trump It is very likely that both financing and the flow of weapons will be cut off.

“Then Russia may have an advantage, that is the most likely scenario that can occur, also because it will continue to benefit from another flow of weapons and ammunition that includes that coming from North Korea”, he noted.

What does North Korea receive in return? Tucci maintained that North Korea This type of agreement suits you because It now enjoys Russia’s nuclear umbrella.

“Pyongyang is in a phase of developing long-range nuclear weapons, what it needs to be able to autonomously exercise deterrence towards the United Statesbecause it currently has nuclear weapons, but they are short and medium range. You can hit calmly South Korea, Japanbut it is not so easy to reach the United States. “The experimentation continues, the missile tests continue, because their problem has to do with the vectors, that is why they have not achieved maximum nuclear deterrence,” Tucci said.

At this moment, Tucci estimates, Russia’s aid to North Korea is due to a mutual security issue that may worry the United Statesbecause in practice in the event of a retaliation, an attack on North Korea, Russia would respond.

“I see the alliance more as a deterrent umbrella against the United States. I do not know if there will actually be technological cooperation or technology transfer, because if it did, clearly North Korea “could achieve the knowledge it needs to be able to produce long-range weapons with nuclear capabilities, because as we know the Russian Federation is the State that possesses the most nuclear weapons,” held.

The South Korea factor

This Wednesday, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umerovmet in Seoul with the president of South KoreaYoon Suk-yeol, and with security officials from the Asian country to address the issue of sending troops from North Korea to support the invasion of Russia.

North Korea and South Korea are bitter enemies and technically still at war. The conflict between both nations originated with the Korean War, which was fought between 1950 and 1953, and ended with an armistice that has not been replaced by a peace treaty.

South Korea is the United States’ largest ally in the Asia-Pacific. Since 1953, both countries have maintained an alliance through the Mutual Defense Treatywhich allows the presence of US troops on the Korean Peninsula. Besides, Washington supplies weapons to Seoul.

Now Yoon received Umerov to discuss “practical response measures” to sending thousands of North Korean soldiers to the Ukrainian war front.

“Both sides agreed to continue sharing information on the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia and on arms and technology transfers between Russia and North Korea, while cooperating with allied nations.”explained the South Korean Presidential Office in a brief statement that was cited by the EFE agency.

Umerov He also met with South Korea’s National Security Advisor, Shin Won-sik, and that country’s Minister of National Defense, Kim Yong-hyun, to share intelligence on the North Korean deployment.

It was not reported whether Ukraine requested South Korea to send weapons.

The South Korean Presidency said that Both countries agreed to “continue sharing information about the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia.”as well as on the transfer of weapons and technologies between Russia and North Korea.”

Previously, in an interview with EFE, President Yoon said that “strengthening support for Ukraine” is one of the possibilities that his Government is studying in response to the North Korean regime’s sending of troops to Russia.

The AFP agency highlighted that South Korea is one of the world’s leading arms exportershas air defense systems and advanced weapons that could play a crucial role in the war Ukraine.

“It is very likely that South Korea will send weapons to Ukraine in response to the pact between Russia and North Korea,” Francesco Tucci told this newspaper.