North Korea Expanding KN-23 Missile Production for Use by Russia

North Korea is expanding a weapons plant that manufactures missiles being used by Russia against Ukraine, according to analysts from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), who had examined recent satellite imagery produced by Planet Labs PBC.

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA confirmed earlier in November that construction was underway at the plant but categorized it as a modernization program that had been planned for implementation in 2024.

The “February 11” plant, part of the Ryongsong Machine Complex, is located near the country’s second-largest city, Hamhung, and is known to produce the Hwasong 11A and 11B short range ballistic missiles, known in the West as the KN-23 and KN-24.

Reuters was told by Sam Lair, a research associate at CNS, that the Hamhung facility is the only plant in North Korea capable of producing the Hwasong-11 (KN-23/24) solid-fuel ballistic missiles.

The development on the site seems to include machine buildings, a second building, probably for the final assembly of missiles, along with a new housing facility, likely intended for the additional workers needed for the assembly of missiles.

The think-tank’s assessment comes only days after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said that Pyongyang had supplied additional artillery systems to Russia after photos appeared on social media showing flatbed rail cars carrying North Korean M-1978 Koksan 170mm self-propelled artillery howitzers near Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on Nov.15. The NIS said that Pyongyang had sent 50 Koksan along with 240mm multiple launch rocket systems to Russia in recent weeks.

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Kazakhstan is a member of the Moscow-led CSTO security alliance but has expressed concern about the almost three-year war, which Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has refused to condone.

In October, the NIS said that Russia had received more than 13,000 containers carrying artillery, missiles and other conventional ammunition from North Korea since August 2023.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied allegations that North Korea has supplied weapons and munitions to aid Russia’s war effort, despite the growing mountain of evidence to the contrary.

Ukraine has been hit by a recent increase in Russian missile and drone attacks including by ballistic missiles, about a third of which were the North Korean KN-23 type, according to Ukrainian military officials.

According to Ukraine’s Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO) many of the components used in the North Korean missiles are produced by Western manufacturers, including companies based in the US, the Netherlands and the UK, that have probably been acquired through third parties.

As part of the mutual defense pact signed by Moscow and Pyongyang in June this year, which calls on each other to “immediately provide military and other assistance using all available means” in the event of war. It is apparent that military cooperation between the two nations is deepening as a result. Along with the supply of ammunition, missiles and weapons, several thousand North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region to support the Kremlin in its fight against Ukraine according to Western and South Korean officials.

Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists on Nov. 18 that around 11,000 North Korean troops had arrived in Russia's Kursk region which were expected to reinforce Russia’s frontline troops in the near future.

South Korea’s national security adviser Shin Won-sik said during a television interview on Nov. 22 that Russia had provided North Korea with advanced military technology including air defense missiles with which Kim Jong-un’s regime was deploying to protect the capital, Pyongyang.