NYT: North Korea is modernizing its military by drawing on combat experience and Russian technology

North Korea is rapidly modernizing its armed forces and accelerating the arms race on the Korean Peninsula through a large-scale military partnership with the Russian Federation. Source: The New York Times

Pyongyang is using its cooperation with Moscow as a testing ground for its weapons and to obtain valuable combat data from the front in Ukraine.

In exchange for supplying ammunition and sending thousands of troops, Russia is transferring advanced technologies to North Korea that help improve its missile systems, increase warhead accuracy, and develop swarms of attack drones.

The partnership between the two countries involves not only technology sharing, but also the large-scale deployment of North Korean workers and military personnel at Russian defense plants, including facilities producing Geran-2 drones in Tatarstan.

Specialists sent to the Russian Federation gain hands-on experience in modern warfare and using unmanned systems to penetrate advanced air defense systems. This experience has enabled Pyongyang to launch mass production of its own attack drones and conduct exercises involving coordinated strikes with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drone swarms, posing a direct threat to the defense systems of South Korea and the United States.

In response, Seoul has been forced to increase its military budget to record levels and test its own hypersonic missiles, such as the Hyunmoo-5. However, military analysts warn that a power imbalance is emerging: Pyongyang’s low-cost offensive weapons are forcing South Korea to spend enormous sums to overhaul its air defense system. In addition, North Korea’s progress in developing nuclear submarines and long-range ballistic missiles is undermining Seoul’s confidence in U.S. nuclear deterrence guarantees.

As a reminder, military cooperation between Russia and North Korea has reached a qualitatively new level, evolving into a full-fledged technology exchange. The Russian Federation has transferred advanced technologies to North Korea for the production of jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles.