Western tech in North Korean missiles fuels Russian attacks
Ukraine is grappling with a wave of Russian missile attacks. CNN reports that one-third of the strikes utilise North Korean missiles containing Western components.
24 November 2024 14:11
According to CNN, one-third of these attacks are based on KN-23 missiles, which can operate thanks to Western components, despite prevailing sanctions.
In 2024, Russia launched about 60 North Korean KN-23 missiles at Ukraine, which represent nearly one-third of all 194 ballistic missiles used this year.
The key components of these missiles come from nine Western manufacturers, including those from the USA, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Some parts of the KN-23 missiles that experts analysed were manufactured in 2023, indicating rapid delivery of components to North Korea, CNN notes.
Everything that works to guide the missile, to make it fly, is all foreign components. All the electronics are foreign. There is nothing Korean in it," said Andriy Kulchytskyi, head of the Military Research Laboratory of the Kiev Research and Forensic Examination Institute, to CNN. "The only thing Korean is the metal, which quickly rusts and corrodes," he added.
How do components get to North Korea?
A report published earlier this year by the British investigative organisation Conflict Armament Research (CAR) showed that 75% of the components in one of the early missiles came from the USA.
Experts suggest that components reach North Korea through China.
"We have successfully traced some of those components, and the last known custodians are Chinese companies," said Damien Spleeters from CAR.
