Published January 11, 2024
North Korea is looking to step up its military cooperation with Russia by sending Moscow new types of tactical guided missiles, while Pyongyang may soon conduct fresh tests of its own missiles designed to deliver nuclear strikes, South Korea’s defense minister said.
Kim Jong Un’s regime appears to be planning for a trial of atmospheric re-entry of a warhead designed to be carried by an intercontinental ballistic missile to the U.S. mainland, Shin Wonsik said in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News published Thursday. This would mean firing a long-range rocket a distance of several thousand kilometers, he said.
The cooperation outlined by Shin would mark a new phase of Kim’s assistance for Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine, which could help the Kremlin continue its grinding bombardment of its neighbor.
By sending more weapons of greater sophistication, Kim is likely receiving substantial aid that keeps his sanctions-hit economy afloat as well as technology from Russia that increases the security threat North Korea poses to the U.S. and its allies in the region — South Korea and Japan, weapons experts have said.
“North Korea said it will deploy (close range ballistic missiles) with front-line troops. Given the recent arms trade, North Korea could sell them to Russia,” Shin told Yonhap.
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SOURCE: www.japantimes.co.jp
RELATED: South Korea: Ukraine ‘test site’ for North Korean nuclear missiles
A damaged residential building in Kharkiv after a Russian missile attack on Jan. 2, 2024. Russian forces fired ballistic missiles at the city center. (Yevhen Titov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Published January 11, 2024
United Nations delegates spoke out against Russia’s use of North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine at a Security Council meeting on Jan. 10, according to a UN press release.
Russian forces have launched multiple North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine since Dec. 30, according to U.S. officials. Following a series of massive Russian aerial attacks, including a Jan. 2 strike that involved ballistic missiles, the Security Council announced it would convene to address Pyongyang’s supply of weapons to Moscow.
North Korea has made Ukraine “a test site of its nuclear-capable missiles,” South Korea’s UN Envoy Hwang Joon-Kook said during the meeting.
“The introduction of North Korean missiles into the war in Ukraine has a significant implication on global nuclear non-proliferation,” he said.
Joon-Kook also said he agreed with the assessments of some experts that Russia fired KN-23 missiles into Ukraine, weapons that North Korea claims can deliver nuclear warheads. This represents an “existential threat” to South Korea, he told the Council.
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SOURCE: www.kyivindependent.com
RELATED: North Korea conducts artillery drills amid tensions with South Korea
North Korea carried out a series of exercises including more than 90 artillery firings following South Korean exercises. Subsequently, North Korea issued a stern warning of an immediate military response to any perceived provocation from South Korea. This information was reported by Yonhap News Agency on January 7, 2024, citing a military source.
North Korea escalated tensions with South Korea by firing over 200 artillery shells into the sea (contextual illustration) (Picture source: North Korean MoD)
Published January 9, 2024
On January 5, 2024, North Korea escalated tensions with South Korea by firing over 200 artillery shells into the sea near a tense maritime border and towards two South Korean islands. This act, described by Seoul as a ‘provocation,’ led to a response in the form of live fire drills by South Korea. The North Korean firings resulted in the evacuation of residents of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong, two remote islands controlled by South Korea, who took refuge in bomb shelters on the orders of the South Korean military. These islands are located near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a contested maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
North Korea claimed that its defensive coastal units fired 192 shells in response to military actions by South Korea’s ‘military gangsters’ in recent days, according to the official North Korean news agency KCNA. North Korea also threatened an ‘unprecedented strong response’ if Seoul continues to make provocative moves.
On January 6, 2024, North Korea continued its artillery exercises near the contested maritime border with South Korea, firing over 60 shells into the waters northwest of Yeonpyeong Island, according to a statement from the South Korean military. These ongoing live-fire exercises by North Korea along the maritime border are considered a threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and increase tensions. The South Korean military warned that it would take measures if the North continued its provocations or endangered South Korean citizens, although it did not plan to respond with its live-fire exercises at that time.
In response, the South Korean military fired about 400 artillery shells at a simulated target at sea in an exercise involving self-propelled howitzers K9 and tanks K1E1.
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SOURCE: www.armyrecognition.com
