After years of supporting Ukraine and isolating Russia internationally, the West has ensured that Russia will continue to seek allies where it can—and hence move North Korea closer into its orbit.
Thanks to the Ukraine War, a frightening new reality has set in in global geopolitics: the fact that a growing alliance has formed between Eurasia’s autocratic powers, namely Russia, China, and North Korea (plus Iran in the Mideast). Recently, U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that North Korea’s arms exports to Russia were expanding to dangerous levels.
Paparo said that he believed these arms shipments of increasingly complex systems posed a significant threat to regional stability. That’s because of how Moscow is repaying Pyongyang for its military aid for their war against Ukraine.
Why the Russia-North Korea Axis Is a Nightmare for Global Security
Russia has been remunerating North Korea by sending them advanced air defense systems—including critical surface-to-air missile systems—all of which enhance North Korea’s security and degrade the threat South Korea could pose to the north.
This is vital because North Korea is experiencing a renaissance in its military affairs. That renaissance could not come at a worse time for South Korea, which is experiencing both domestic political chaos and, increasingly, a sense of ambivalence from Washington about its longtime security guarantees to the south.
The popular military publication, Defence-Blog, reported that “In December, a train convoy in Russia was spotted carrying vehicles resembling launchers for the Pukguksong-2 (KN-15), a medium-range ballistic missile developed by North Korea.”
Three months thereafter, in March, a new set of shipments from North Korea to Russia “were said to include KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, along with 122mm and 152mm artillery shells—ammunition compatible with Soviet-era systems still in wide use by Russian forces.”
So, at the same time Russia is plying North Korea with increasingly sophisticated air defense systems that inherently destabilize the Korean Peninsula, North Korean arms shipments to Moscow are further destabilizing the situation in Eastern Europe by ensuring that Russian forces can continue beating down NATO-supported Ukrainian forces.
North Korea’s Gifts to Russia: The Pukguksong-2 (KN-15) and Hwasong-11A (KN-23) Missiles
So far, North Korea has gifted two major types of missiles to Russia—and the Kremlin has put them to use inside Ukraine, by most accounts to devastating effects.
The Pukguksong-2 is a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) designed for land-based deployment. It is a solid-fueled, two-stage missile, an evolution of the submarine-launched Pukguksong-1, with an estimated range of around 750-800 miles, though some reports claim that it could go as far as 1,200 miles with lighter payloads.
Its solid-fuel design allows rapid launch—within minutes—unlike liquid-fueled predecessors, making it harder to detect and counter. Pukguksong-2 also uses a cold-launch system, where it is ejected from a canister by gas pressure before igniting mid-air.
The Pukguksong-2 is a relatively newer North Korean system, having first been tested on February 12, 2017, from an airbase in North Pyongan province. By 2019, the United Nations and US intelligence confirmed these missiles were deployed to northern military bases, often near the Chinese border, alongside the powerful Hwasong-7 missiles.
This system is mounted on a transporter-erecter-launcher (TEL), allowing for greater survivability and mission flexibility. This mobility, paired with potential nuclear capability, makes the Pukguksong-2 a significant threat, potentially able to strike South Korea, Japan, and U.S. bases in the Pacific like Guam, depending on payload and trajectory.
The second major gift from Pyongyang to Moscow—the Hwasong-11A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM)—was designed for tactical use and was first revealed in a 2018 military parade and tested in May 2019. It is a single-stage, solid-fueled missile with a quasi-ballistic trajectory. That’s lower than your standard SRBM in order to better evade missile defenses, such as the United States Army’s Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system.
Showing how close Russian and North Korean weapons designs have been since the heady days of the Cold War, the Hwasong-11A bears a striking resemblance to Russia’s powerful Iskander-M missile system.
This system has a range of around 280 to 430 miles and can carry either a conventional or nuclear warhead. Western intelligence sources assess that this SRBM uses an inertial navigation system (INS) with satellite guidance, either the American GPS or the Russian GLONASS system. Like the Pukguksong-2 MRBM system, the Hwasong-11A uses a TEL to maintain mobility.
Both the Hwasong-11A SRBM and the Pukguksong-2 MRBM are major force multipliers for the Russian Armed Forces as they continue grinding down NATO-backed Ukraine. The presence of these systems in the Ukraine War is a most unwelcome development for NATO.
Russia’s Return Payment to North Korea: The S-400 Air Defense System
Renowned as one of the best air defense platforms in the world, the Russian S-400 Triumf is a long-range air defense platform designed to counter aircraft, drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Developed by the Russian design bureau, Almaz-Antey, it entered service in 2007.
This system has a range of around 250 miles for aircraft and 37 miles for incoming ballistic missiles, depending on the missile type. The missiles this system launches can vary, making it a versatile system that North Korea would want to have in its growing arsenal. For longer ranges, the 48N6E3 is the missile likely used while at shorter ranges, the 40N6E and 9M96 are employed.
The onboard radar can track as many as 300 targets as far as 372 miles away, all while engaging up to 80 of those targets. Like the other systems detailed in this piece, the S-400 is road-mobile and can be easily deployed in under five minutes—a major capability for a country, like North Korea, whose southern neighbors are well-armed and technologically advanced (and geographically close).
S-400s can target not only low-flying threats and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but Russia claims this system can also reliably attack enemy stealth planes and even hypersonic weapons.
The Missiles Are a Game-Changer in Europe and Asia
Other forms of assistance that Russia has supposedly given to the North Koreans have been in the all-important strategic domain of space. Specifically, North Korea has striven to establish for itself a reliable space-based surveillance system.
In 2024, Moscow announced it was willing to assist Pyongyang in its quest to build satellites. This could significantly complicate the ability of either South Korea or its American allies to hold North Korea at bay by giving North Korea’s Armed Forces significant intelligence-gathering abilities on South Korean and American military movements in the region.
After years of supporting Ukraine and isolating Russia internationally, the West has ensured that Russia will continue to seek allies where it can—and hence move North Korea closer into its orbit. This is a massively destabilizing new alliance that will be increasingly difficult for American policymakers to break.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / hodim.
