Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia's North Korean missiles

6/2/2025 16:16

North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian forces since late December have been far more precise than salvos of the weapons launched over the past year, two senior Ukrainian sources told 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 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 Asian 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.