North Korea is using Ukraine as a test site for its nuclear-capable missiles, South Korea’s ambassador to the UN said in a statement on Thursday.
Hwang “strongly” condemned North Korea’s exports of such missiles and their use via Russia in the Dec. 30, Jan. 2 and January attacks, he said.
He pointed to Russia’s use of KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, which North Korea tested in 2018 and 2019. These missiles can hit targets up to 690 kilometers, or about 428 miles, according to the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
Hwang also warned that North Korea’s missile exports pose an “existential threat” to South Korea and that the U. N. Council’s silence has only served to embolden North Korea’s leadership.
North Korea has manufactured a wide variety of ballistic and cruise missiles since 2017, expanding its launches to 68 missiles in 2022, according to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies’ North Korea Missile Test Tracker.
Russia is now benefiting from North Korea’s missile expertise and is using it in its war of aggression against Ukraine, Hwang said.
He also said that “the arrival of North Korean missiles into the war in Ukraine has implications for global nuclear nonproliferation. “
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby commented on the missiles’ use last Thursday, saying that Russia had acquired “several dozen” ballistic missiles from North Korea and used them in two separate attacks on December 30 and January 2.
Experts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Russia would likely turn to North Korea because it has a type of missile that Ukraine has trouble intercepting.
The ISW cited a Dec. 29 strike, in which Ukraine said it had intercepted 149 of 166 cruise missiles fired across Russia (about 90 percent), but a “handful” of ballistic missiles.
The ballistic missiles “appear to be more effective at penetrating or bypassing Ukrainian air defenses” than cruise missiles used so far through Russia, the ISW concluded.
The Washington, D. C. -based think tankHe added that Russia is most likely also turning to Iran when it comes to buying ballistic missiles.
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