North Korean missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine now more precise - Reuters

According to Ukrinform, two senior Ukrainian sources told this to Reuters.

At a time when Moscow's burgeoning ties with Pyongyang are causing alarm from Washington to Seoul, the increase in accuracy - to within 50-100m of the intended target - suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology, the sources said.

A military source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information, described a marked improvement in the precision in all the more than 20 North Korean ballistic missiles that hit Ukraine over the past several weeks. A second source, a senior government official familiar with the issue, confirmed the findings when asked by Reuters.

Yang Uk, a weapons expert at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said such improvements in North Korean missile capabilities have troubling implications for its potential to threaten South Korea, Japan and the United States or sell upgraded weapons to "failed" states or armed groups.

"That can have a major impact on stability in the region and the world," he said.

North Korea's military programs have developed rapidly in recent years, including short- and intermediate-range missiles that Pyongyang says can be tipped with nuclear warheads.

However, until its involvement in Ukraine, the long-isolated nation had never tested the new weapons in combat.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said on January 23 that North Korea would transfer another 150 KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia this year.

Photo: Kcna