North Korea's military aid to Russia escalates with tanks and missiles

North Korea is continuously increasing its support for Russia. Initially, only North Korean artillery shells were sent to the front. Still, now they also include ballistic missiles, and soon, North Korean armoured vehicles may be operating in Ukraine as well. What specific equipment of this kind might Pyongyang provide to assist Putin's army?

Ukrainian media are convinced that North Korea has increased its arms production for Russia in recent weeks, primarily in the area of 150 mm artillery shells. KN-23 ballistic missiles are also attacking Ukrainian troops and cities, and at the end of July 2024, a mysterious vehicle was spotted at the front. This is most likely a Bulsai-4 tank destroyer or newer variant Bulsai-6.

An article in Forbes suggests that this could be the first sign confirming reports of the possibility of even greater support for Russia from North Korea. Perhaps, with new agreements, Russia will be able to solve one of the biggest problems on the battlefield in Ukraine – the shortage of combat vehicles, of which they lose about 600 per month.

"The Russians are particularly affected by shortages of modern tanks and armoured personnel carriers, so don't be surprised if you see former Korean P'okp'ung-ho tanks and M2010 armoured personnel carriers on the Russian side of the front in Ukraine. It may be helpful for them that the M2010 and Bulsai-4 have the same chassis," it was noted in the analysis published in Forbes.

In the context of tanks, P'okp'ung-ho is mentioned as a potential reinforcement for the Russians. These are North Korea's most modern tanks produced since 1992. They are equipped with a 125 mm smoothbore gun, a 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine gun, and a 7.62 mm machine gun. The hull is most likely a combination of solutions known from Russian T-62 and T-72 tanks.

In larger quantities, older Ch'ŏnma-ho tanks are found in North Korea, which should be considered upgraded equivalents of the Russian T-62. They have 115 mm guns and the same set of machine guns as the P'okp'ung-ho, but they are significantly less armoured.

The Russians are increasingly sending very old tanks from their warehouses to the front. Therefore, it is possible that the age of machines from North Korea will not bother them. In Ukraine, not only T-62Ms from the 1980s are already seen, but even older T-55s and T-54s, whose history dates back to the 1950s.