North Korean military experts are helping Russians use KN-23 tactical missile systems.

The Guardian reports this with reference to its Ukrainian source.

“Dozens of North Koreans are behind the Russian front line in teams that support the KN-23 missile launchers,” The Guardian writes.

Last week, according to South Korean and Ukrainian officials, North Koreans were among those killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk.

South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun recently told members of parliament in Seoul that it is “very likely” that North Korean military personnel have died in the fighting.

“It is very important for North Korea, which has supplied Russia with a lot of shells and missiles, to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real combat experience. This may even be a driving factor for sending North Korean soldiers – to provide them with a variety of experience and military training,” Lim El-chul, a professor at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the AFP.

Recently, on October 5, it was reported that the North Korean soldiers in the Donetsk region were servicing the ammunition handed over to Russia.

The Head of the National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said that DPRK engineers are fixing defects in the ammunition and monitoring its use by Russian troops.

According to Kovalenko, these soldiers accompany the cargo, record defects, and monitor the use of ammunition by the Russian army.

Military aid from the DPRK

Back in June, it became known that the DPRK had sent at least 10,000 shipping containers to Russia that could contain almost 5 million shells of artillery ammunition.

In addition, the Russian Armed Forces have received dozens of North Korean ballistic missiles. The military assistance provided to Russia by North Korea has already caused severe damage to Ukraine on the battlefield.

In response to the massive supply of artillery shells to Russia, the DPRK has the opportunity to acquire new technologies, primarily in the development of missile systems and satellites, as well as potentially supplying itself with tanks and aircraft.