The Russian and Ukraine War: The investigation may have flowed into the European battl

Image source, Conflict Armament Research

On January 2nd this year, the young Ukrainian weapon inspector Krystyna Kimachuk found a strangely appearance of a missile in a building in the country of Halkov.As a result, she contacted the Ukrainian military personnel and was anxious to get the information about the missile.

Less than a week later, she began to dismantle the wreckage of the missile at a safe place in Kiev.Krisica began to disassemble and shoot every missile wreckage part, including screws and chips (chip) smaller than her nails.She almost realized that this should not be Russia's missiles.But it is a challenge to prove this.

In metal fragments and scattered wires, she found a Korean alphabet.Then she noticed more important details.The part of the shell is beaten with numbers 112, which is corresponding to 2023 in the Korean calendar.She realized that she had discovered the first solid evidence to prove that North Korean weapons were used to attack her country.

She told me from Kiev through the phone: "We heard that they had delivered some weapons to Russia, but I could see it, touch it, and investigate it."Excitement"

From then on, the Ukrainian military claimed that dozens of Korean (North Korean) missiles were launched by Russia to Ukrainian territory.These missiles killed at least 24 people and more than 70 people were injured.

Although there are many discussions about Kim Jong -un's preparing to launch nuclear war recently, the more urgent threat is that North Korea can exacerbate existing wars and accelerate global instability.

Krisica works in a folk organization "Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which is responsible for recycling weapons used in war and studying their manufacturing methods.But it was not until she completed the shooting of the missile wreckage and her team analyzed hundreds of components that the most shocking discovery was revealed.

Their research found that North Korea's missiles are loaded with the latest foreign technology.Most missile electronic parts have been manufactured in the United States and Europe in the past few years.There is even a US computer chip in March 2023.This means that North Korea has illegally obtained an important weapon parts, secretly brought them into the country and assembled it on the missile, and then transported it to Russia and sent it to the front line of the battlefield within a few months.

Damien Spleeters, deputy director of the "War We weapon Research", told reporters: "The biggest surprise is that although it has been severely sanctioned in the past two decades, North Korea can still quickly obtain what the manufacturing weapon needsAll equipment, and the speed is amazing "

In London, Joseph Byrne, an expert at the Royal Institute of Think Tank, also shocked this discovery.

He told reporters: "I have never thought of seeing North Korean ballistic missiles that will be used to kill people on European land."

Since Kim Jong -un met with a weapon transaction in Moscow and Putin last September, Byan and his team in the Royal United Military Research Institute have been tracking the situation of North Korean weapons to Russia.

Using satellite images, they can observe the four Russian cargo ships shuttled back and forth between North Korea and the Russian military port, each loading hundreds of containers.

The think tank is estimated that Pyongyang has transported a total of 7,000 containers, full of more than 1 million ammunition and Grad Rocket to Russia, and this rocket launcher can launch a large amount from mobile trucks.The evaluation of the think tank was supported by the US, Britain and South Korea, although Russia and North Korea denied such military transactions.

"These cannonballs and Rockets are one of the most sought -after weapons in the world today, which enables Russia to continue to bomb Ukrainian cities in the United States and Europe with hesitation in (to Ukraine)," Byan saidEssence

purchase and launch

It appeared on the battlefield because they revealed North Korea's weapon plan.

In fact, since the 1980s, North Korea has sold weapons to foreign countries, mainly northern Africa and the Middle East, including Libya, Syria and Iran.They are often poorly reputable old Soviet missiles.

Evidence shows that Hamas soldiers may use some old -model rockets provided by Pyongyang to promote grenades in the attack on October 7 last year.

However, the missile launched on January 2 this year seems to be the most advanced short -range missile in Pyongyang -Mars 11 (HWASONG 11), which seems to be 700 kilometers.Although the Ukraine has reservations about its accuracy, the MiddleBury Institute of International Studies of the Middle East, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis of the Korean weapon proliferation expertToo much difference.

Dr. Louis explained to reporters that the advantage of these missiles is that they are very cheap.This means that you can buy more and launch more. In order to overcome the air defense of the opponent with an overwhelming advantage, this should be what Russia is doing.This also leads to a problem, how many such missiles can North Korea produce?

Seoul has recently observed that North Korea has sent 6,700 military fire containers to Russia. They said that Pyongyang's weapon factory is operating at full speed, and Dr. Louis estimated after the satellite observation of these factories can produce hundreds of missiles each year.

While shocking this discovery, Stelites, deputy director of the "War We weapon Research", and the team are now trying to understand how this happened?Because many companies around the world have been banned from selling parts to North Korea.

Sprits told reporters that many computer chips that are vital to modern weapons are used to guide them to fly to their targets and chips for mobile phones, washing machines and cars.

These chips are sold globally with amazing quantities.Manufacturers sell to distributors for billionsThe seller resold it with millions, which means that they usually don't know that the product will go.

Even so, when learning the number of parts from the West in North Korea's missiles, Byen was still very frustrated.This proves that North Korea's purchasing network is stronger and more effective than the network he is investigating.

According to his experience, North Koreans living overseas have set up fake companies in Hong Kong or other Central Asian countries, mainly using stolen cash to purchase items.Then they transport the products to North Korea, usually through the border with China.If one fake company is discovered and sanctioned, another fake company will emerge quickly.

For a long time, sanctions have been considered to be imperfect tools to crack down on these networks, but in order to play a role, they can only be hoped to update and perform sanctions on a regular basis.Since 2017, Russia and China have refused to impose new sanctions on North Korea.

Moscow now purchases the weapon of Pyongyang, violating the sanctions supported by the UN Security Council member.Earlier this year, Russia effectively dissolved an United Nations group that supervised and sanctioned violations, may be to avoid review.

Byan emphasized to reporters: "We are witnessing the disintegration of the United Nations sanctions on North Korea, which provides Pyongyang with a lot of gasp for breathing."

These have had a profound impact compared to the wider area of ​​Ukraine.

Byen said: "The real winner is North Korea. They helped Russia in important ways, which bought a lot of chips for them."

In March of this year, Rusi think tanks recorded a large amount of oil from Russia to North Korea. At the same time, the train filled with rice and flour crossed the land boundary between the two countries.The transactions worth hundreds of millions of pounds will not only promote the economy of Pyongyang, but also enhance its military strength.

Russia may provide raw materials to North Korea in order to continue to produce missiles, even military equipment, such as fighter jets, and even under extreme circumstances, providing technical assistance to improve its nuclear weapons.

In addition, North Korea has the opportunity to test its latest missiles in the actual war environment for the first time.With these valuable data, they will be able to improve the performance of the guides.

Pyongyang: The main missile supplier?

What is even more worrying is that this war provided North Korea with a window displayed to the world.

Now, Pyongyang is producing these weapons on a large scale, and they want to sell them to more countries.If these missiles are good enough for Russia, it is also good enough for other countries. Dr. Louis said that especially considering that Russia is establishing a factor in violation of sanctions.

He predicts that North Korea will become an important missile supplier of the "China -Russia -Iranian Alliance" country.After Iran's attack on Israel this month, the United States said that North Korea may have "extremely concerned" with Iran's cooperation with Iran's cooperation on nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons.

Sprutes in the center of CAR said: "Whenever we talk about this problem, I see a lot of melancholy expressions. But the good news is that now we know that they can depend on foreign technology, we can adoptAction.

Sprites is optimistic that they can cut off North Korea's supply chain through cooperation with manufacturers.His team has successfully identified and closed an illegal network to prevent him from completing an important transaction.

However, Dr. Louis from the Bylin International Institute does not fully believe this approach.He said: "We can make things more difficult, inconvenient, and may increase costs, but none of these can prevent North Korea from creating these weapons."

He also emphasized to reporters, "The instructions of the West to curb this hooligan country have finally failed."

Louis believes that North Korea's missiles are not only a symbol of reputation and political power, but also bring huge amounts of money to the country.So why did Kim Jong -un give up these missiles?