Keefe's spy chief says

• Ukraine's spy chief said Russia helped North Korea solve the serious accuracy flaw in its KN-23 missile.

• It is usually a ballistic missile that is over 400 miles compared to the Iskandar-M.

• Budanov took KN-23 as an example to illustrate how Pyongyang got it from the struggle with Ukraine.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian intelligence agency, said that the accuracy of the North Korean KN-23 missile was defective when Russian technicians were deployed in Russian technicians.

In his speech by South Korean media media Chosun Ilbo, Budanov used the missiles as an example of Pyongyang's combat technology, thus achieving significant improvements in active combat.

“Initially, it had a serious flaw in accuracy, with a false margin of 500 to 1,500 meters,” he said in an interview on Monday. “But Russian missile experts have made technical modifications to solve this problem. Now, the missile is more accurate, Much more threatening.”

The KN-23 is a US designation for the missile, but North Korea named it Hwasong-11a. The solid ballistic missile is believed to have a range of about 430 miles, and typically has a typical payload of up to 1,100 pounds compared to the Russian Iskandar-M.

It's one of North Korea's newer weapons, debuting in the 2018 parade, and its range can bring it deep into South Korea. Pyongyang said in July that it tested the advanced version of the missile's Hwasong-11da-4.5, saying it could carry 4.5 tons of warheads.

The White House said in January 2024 that Russia has launched several North Korean short-term ballistic missiles on Ukraine, which are widely believed to be KN-23 and KN-24.

South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations said when referring to the strike that North Korea used Ukraine as a “test site for nuclear missiles.”

In an interview with Chosun Ilbo, Budanov said cooperation between Russia and North Korea “has reached the highest level”, warning that the threat to Pyongyang’s enemy in Asia has increased.

“North Korea is using this war to gain combat experience and modernize its military technology,” he told The Outlet. “This will have lasting consequences for the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region.”

North Korea's lessons from the war

The West and Seoul are particularly concerned about their estimates of 12,000 North Korean special forces deployed in Kursk.

About 4,000 soldiers were injured or killed since then, Western intelligence personnel said. However, Pyongyang's direct involvement has raised concerns that its surviving troops will gain valuable combat experience and knowledge of modern warfare.

Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy director of the Ukrainian Intelligence Agency, told Chosun Ilbo that the North Korean troops were learning quickly.

“Their combat efficiency has been greatly improved not only on conventional weapons like tanks, but also on advanced systems like drones, such as drones,” Skibitskyi told The Outlet.

It is reported that soldiers in Pyongyang often use Ukrainian positions in high-level attacks in Ukraine, indicating that a force is actively following orders in the face of death.

In the early days of North Korean troops' encounters, Ukrainian sources also said that Pyongyang's troops did not seem to know that drones could kill them.

But there are some clues to adapt.

In January, Ukrainian special forces released excerpts from what was said to be a diary of North Korean soldiers, one of which described a strategy to send a soldier into a bait drone that could then be shot by a comrade.

In exchange for his troops and weapons, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is believed to have received Russian technical assistance for his space and weapons program as well as cash, raw materials and food.

Their cooperation highlights the rise of the moment between Pyongyang and Moscow, as both try to rely on each other to help the international sanctions imposed by the weather on the economy.

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