A North Korean missile flaw resolved after Ukraine War Use: Kyiv Spy Chief

• Ukraine’s spy chief said Russia has helped North Korea set a great precision flaw in its KN-23 missiles.
• Often compared to Iskandar-M, it is a ballistic missile with a range of more than 400 miles.
• Budanov cited KN-23 as an example of the way Pyongyang draws from its fight against Ukraine.

The North Korean KN-23 missiles had a precision flaw removed by Russian technicians while they were deployed against Ukraine, said Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukraine intelligence agency.

Addressing South Korean media Chosun Ilbo, Budanov cited the missile as an example of Pyongyang combat technology receiving major improvements in active fights.

“At the start, his precision was seriously wrong, with an error margin of 500 to 1,500 meters,” he said in the interview, published on Monday. “But Russian missile experts have made technical changes, solving the problem. The missile is now much more precise and a much larger threat.”

The KN-23 is the American designation of the missile, but North Korea has appointed it the Hwasong-11a. The solid combustion ballistic missile would have a range of around 430 miles and is often compared to the ISKAND-M of Russia, with a typical payload of up to 1,100 pounds.

It is one of the most recent weapons in North Korea, its beginnings during a parade in 2018, with a range that would allow it to hit South Korea deeply. In July, Pyongyang said that he had tested an advanced version of the missile, the Hwasong-11da-4.5, saying that he can carry a 4.5-ton warhead.

The White House said in January 2024 that Russia had drawn several North Korean ballistic missiles at short-range against Ukraine, and it is largely believed that they were KN-23 and KN-24.

By referring to strikes, the South Korea ambassador to the United Nations said at the time that North Korea used Ukraine as “a test of its nuclear capacity missiles”.

During his interview with Chosun Ilbo, Budanov said that collaboration between Russia and North Korea “reached the highest levels”, warning of an increased threat to Pyongyang enemies in Asia.

“North Korea uses this war to gain combat experience and modernize its military technology,” he said at the point of sale. “This will have lasting consequences for the security landscape in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The lessons of North Korea of ​​the War

The West and Seoul were particularly concerned about what they consider to be a deployment of 12,000 North Korean special forces in Kursk.

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Western Intelligence says that around 4,000 of these soldiers have since been injured or killed. However, the direct participation of Pyongyang sparked the fears that his surviving troops acquires invalid combat experience and knowledge of modern war.

Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy chief of the Ukraine intelligence agency, told Chosun Ilbo that North Korean troops learn quickly.

“Their combat efficiency has improved considerably, not only with conventional weapons like tanks, but also with advanced systems such as drones,” said Skibitskyi at the exit.

The soldiers of Pyongyang would initially billed in the head down Ukrainian positions in high casual assaults, indicating a force which is ready to follow the orders in the face of death.

At the start of the North Korean troops, Ukrainian sources also said that Pyongyang troops did not seem to know that drones could kill them.

But there are clues that they adapt.

In January, Ukraine’s special forces released what she said to be extracts from the newspaper of the North Korean soldier, one of whom described a tactic to send a soldier to the opening to drones of bait which could then be killed by comrades.

In exchange for his troops and weapons, the North Korean leader Kim Jong One is supposed to receive technical assistance from Russia for his space and weapon programs, as well as money, raw materials and food .

Their collaboration underlines an emerging relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow, because the two seek to rely on each other to help international sanctions imposed on their economies.