Russia deploys misfire in North Korea: KN-23 goes off course and explodes in mid-air

This is the conclusion reached by the Ukrainian judiciary, which is investigating the Russian missile attacks on Kharkiv, among others. Russia, the world’s third largest arms exporter, has been forced by the war and international sanctions to use North Korean and Iranian weapons to keep up the fight.

The Ukrainian investigation is being closely watched in the United States and South Korea. In the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula, the more than 25,000 American soldiers in South Korea would be a major target for North Korean missiles and artillery. America is particularly concerned about its missile force. Pyongyang, which has been a nuclear power since 2006, also has medium- and long-range missiles that can hit the US and American bases in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea has been boasting for years about the weapons it has developed, from cruise missiles and tactical nuclear weapons to submarine missiles. But the North Koreans have never been able to test their new arsenal in a major conventional war. The Ukrainian investigation has now put a dent in the image that Pyongyang wants to have: that of a sizeable military force to be reckoned with.

Disappointment

The Ukrainians examined the wreckage of 21 of an estimated fifty North Korean short-range missiles that the Russians fired between December and February. According to Public Prosecution Service boss Andri Kostin, about half of the missiles went off course and exploded in the air. This is a high failure rate. This must also be a disappointment for the Russians. The Russian High Command is relying on the KN-23 as their arsenal of Iskander missiles is running low after two years of war.

Before the invasion, it was estimated that Russia had hundreds of Iskanders. It is unclear how many of these are left. This missile, which has a range of about 500 kilometers, is one of the most important Russian precision missiles to destroy ground targets such as headquarters, troop concentrations and air defense systems. The Russians saw the KN-23 as a good alternative because the North Korean missile is derived from the Iskander.

In videos from the North Korean army, the missile looks like an impressive weapon. The nine-meter-long ballistic missile is fired from a huge truck and can therefore attack deep into enemy territory. Because the mobile launch platform can quickly move away, it is difficult for the enemy to detect it. The US attempted to destroy a similar mobile Iraqi missile, the Scud, during the 1991 Gulf War, but the hunt proved largely unsuccessful.

Deterrence

The US confirmed the Russian deployment of the KN-23 at the beginning of this year. A video of an attack near Kyiv shows a huge crater in a forest, the trees in a radius of 40 meters were burned. “Imagine what would have happened if an apartment had been hit,” former Ukrainian government adviser Anton Herashchenko tweeted. In addition to Kyiv, North Korean missiles are also said to have been deployed in the Kharkiv region and on the southern front near Zaporizhia.

North Korea and Russia deny that the KN-23 is used on the Ukrainian battlefield. Pyongyang calls the US confirmation of the deployment ‘unfounded’. The Russian attacks offer a major advantage for the regime of Kim Jong-un: the missile can be extensively tested. Problems that are now coming to light, such as the exploding rockets, can then be resolved.

The North Koreans are committed to solving these problems quickly. Pyongyang uses the KN-23 to deter the US and South Korea. If there is a war, North Korea says, the missile will be equipped with tactical nuclear weapons to settle the battle.