Evidence of Russia’s Usage of North Korean Missile Discovered

The Korean letter ‘ㅈ’ and the number ‘112’ written on the debris of a missile that Russia fired at Ukraine. Photo=Captured from the website of the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) in the UK

On the 24th, evidence supporting the U.S. government’s claim that Russia employed North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine emerged.

UK’s weapons monitoring group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) announced in its recently released report titled “North Korean Missiles Recorded in Ukraine” that they found the Korean alphabet on the ballistic missile used in Ukraine, which may have originated from North Korea.

The institute revealed that the missile debris parts had the Korean letter ‘ㅈ’ handwritten on them. The ballistic missile debris in question was fired by Russia at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on the 2nd.

The number “112” was also found on several parts of the missile debris. The institute interpreted this number as either “Juche 112th year”, indicating the year 2023 in North Korea’s year notation, or “February 11 Factory”, a military factory under the Ryongsong Machine Complex.

The institute also found similarities by comparing the shape of the missile debris’s rocket motor, jet wings that control thrust direction, bolt coupling patterns, and so on with the photos of North Korea’s short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) KN-23 and KN-24.

Based on this analysis, it was inferred that the missile Russia fired at Kharkiv was likely either North Korean-made KN-23 or KN-24. However, the report acknowledged limitations in which it could not narrow down the estimation range further.

The diameter of the lower part of the missile was 43.3 inches, which is somewhat larger than the 37.4 inches of the Russian Iskander missile, often referred to as the prototype of the KN-23.

CAR pointed out, “It clearly shows that North Korean missiles were used in Ukraine, and Russia’s use of such weapons shows its intention to maintain the war in Ukraine, even at the cost of undermining the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) non-proliferation regime.”

The U.S. government previously announced on the 4th (EST) that Russia had used ballistic missiles obtained from North Korea in attacks on Ukraine, with military authorities estimating the missile to be KN-23.