A North Korean submunition has been found in a drone that was used to attack Ukraine final month, in accordance to a new report, offering additional perception into the extent that Pyongyang helps Russia wage conflict on its Eastern European neighbor.
The modified submunition – a small half of a bigger weapon – was recovered by Ukrainian authorities following an attack on the port metropolis of Kherson in September, the UK-based investigative group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) mentioned.
It was marked with Korean characters, a few of which referenced the Juche calendar, which counts the years after the start of North Korea’s founding chief, Kim Il Sung.
According to these characters, the submunition was produced in the 12 months of Juche 89, or 2000 in accordance to the Gregorian calendar, the report mentioned.
While initially designed to be used in a rocket artillery system, it was modified to be connected to a first-person-view drone utilizing a wood stick, wire and duct tape, CAR mentioned.
The discovering “establishes yet another direct material link between the North Korean defence industry and the war in Ukraine,” the investigative group mentioned.
CAR’s investigation comes as Russia has ramped up its drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure whereas quickly rising its drone manufacturing.
Russia has constructed a massive drone factory to pump out hundreds of weapons, lots of which aren’t significantly quick or high-tech, however they’re low cost sufficient for the Kremlin to launch a whole lot in one night time.
This is finished in an effort to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses and decimate civilian morale, consultants have mentioned.
Meanwhile, North Korea has additionally ramped up its weapons program in the previous few years, quickly modernizing its armed forces, creating new weapons and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Pyongyang started sending massive numbers of troops and gear to Russia final 12 months. In August, Ukrainian and US intelligence advised there have been roughly 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia, the primary of whom had been despatched in the autumn of 2024.
Of that preliminary deployment, about 4,000 troopers have been killed or wounded, in accordance to Western officers.