North Korea’s weapons are unlikely to help russia in its war in Ukraine – AP

The АР says that a large number of weapons and ammunition the russian federation will buy from North Korea is unlikely to significantly help russia in its war against Ukraine.

The article notes that russia likely reached out to North Korea because North Korea maintains a significant stockpile of projectiles compatible with russian artillery systems.

North Korea "may represent the single biggest source of compatible legacy artillery ammunition outside of Russia, including domestic production facilities to further supplies," said Joseph Dempsey, research associate for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

He also added that North Korea's stockpile of artillery shells might exceed the capabilities of the russian military-industrial complex to produce ammunition.

According to estimates by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, North Korea has about 20,000 artillery systems, including multiple rocket launchers, which Dempsey described as "significantly more than any other country in the world."

Lee Illwoo, an expert on the Korea Defense Network in South Korea, said both North and South Korea, divided along the world's most heavily fortified border for more than 70 years, each store tens of millions of artillery shells.

He said North Korea was likely to sell older projectiles to russia, which it wants to replace with newer ones for multiple rocket launch systems or sophisticated missiles in its front-line army bases.

But the DPRK's older artillery systems, which are likely to be supplied to russia, have a reputation for poor accuracy.

In particular, Bruce Bennett, a senior security expert at the California-based Rand Corporation, noted that during North Korea's artillery shelling of the South Korean island of Yongpyeong in 2010, which killed four people, only 80 of the 300-400 projectiles fired by North Korea hit the targets.

"That is miserable artillery performance. The russians may experience the same thing, which will not make them very happy," Bennett said.

Another expert, Lee Illwoo, added that about half of the projectiles fired by the North Korean armed forces during this shelling fell into the water before reaching the island.

As for the possibility of North Korea supplying russia with more accurate weapons, in particular, ballistic missiles, Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, believes that such a probability is not high because, according to him, the DPRK considers ballistic missiles to be decisive in its military strategy against Washington and Seoul.

Another factor that could hinder North Korea's supply of ballistic missiles to russia is the incompatibility of North Korean missiles with russian launchers, according to Shin Jongwoo, a military expert at the Seoul-based Korea Defense and Security Forum.

In general, experts agree that russia's purchasing weapons and artillery shells from the DPRK would not be able to change the course of the war in Ukraine significantly.

Read Rubryka's timeline of war: current news on Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression.