N. Korea likely sending its newest missiles to Russia

Washington says such ballistic missiles easy to hide, quick to deploy and hard to shoot down

The missiles the US has accused North Korea of sending to Russia appear to be from its newest family of nuclear-capable rockets that are easy to hide, quick to deploy and hard to shoot down.

Images provided by the United States indicate they are North Korean Hwasong-lls, a class of shortrange ballistic missile that can reliably hit targets with a high degree of precision, arms experts say.

Since the missiles are among the newest in Mr Kim Jong Un's arsenal, he is likely extracting significant compensation from Russian President Vladimir Putin in exchange.

They are priced at about US$5 million (S$6.7 million) each, according to data compiled by the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses and released in 2022 by South Korean lawmaker Shin Won-sik.

The transfer of such missiles, with ranges of 400km to 800km, increases the pool of weapons the Kremlin can draw on to attack Ukraine as the war launched by MrPutin in early 2022 grinds towards a third year.

Moscow, meanwhile, is likely providing Mr Kim with weapons, cash and commodities that help prop up his sanctions-hit economy.

Weapons expert Joost Oliemans said images of missile parts located in Ukraine are a "dead match for the Hwasong-11 family".

Since 2019, the bulk of North Korea's ballistic tests have involved two variations on this group, which the outside world has dubbed KN-23 and KN-24.