Experts warn that North Korea’s missile advancements could threaten not only the Korean Peninsula but also the U.S. mainland and Northeast Asia. This has led to calls for stronger countermeasures from U.S. and South Korean security officials.
According to a report by the Ukrainian media outlet New Voice of Ukraine on Thursday, North Korean ballistic missiles supplied to Russia have been upgraded with Russian technical assistance. These enhanced missiles are increasingly difficult for Ukrainian air defense systems to intercept.
The upgraded North Korean short-range ballistic missiles, KN-23 and KN-24, are proving especially difficult for Ukraine’s air defense systems to neutralize. Some analysts suggest that these North Korean missiles may be harder to intercept than Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has previously warned that Russia’s transfer of nuclear missile technology to North Korea poses a serious global security threat.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned during a press conference at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting late last year that dangerous transactions were occurring between Russia and North Korea. He expressed concern that this would destabilize the Korean Peninsula and pose a threat to the U.S. mainland and Northeast Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan.
NATO officials have expressed serious concern over the potential transfer of nuclear technology to North Korea. North Korea is suspected of receiving advanced military technology from Russia in exchange for deploying troops to the Ukraine conflict.
