How can North Korea still produce modern weapons?

According to National Interest magazine, although most of North Korea's military equipment is very outdated, experts have found that the country has new, modern weapons that have never appeared before.

After the Korean War, the North Korean military was supplied with a range of Soviet and Chinese-made weapons. It acquired T-62 and T-75 tanks from the Soviet Union in the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with 72 Romeo-class submarines from China. In its last major arms deals, North Korea acquired a squadron of 17 MiG-29 fighters and 36 Su-25s from Russia.

North Korea's Pongae-5 missile system.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left North Korea without a partner who could easily and consistently supply weapons, and this has left the country without much in the way of modern military hardware. North Korean tanks are still upgraded versions of the T-62, and Romeo-class submarines are still in service. Small upgrades are not enough to improve the fighting ability of an outdated military force.

However, experts have recently discovered that North Korea has some new and more modern weapons. One of them is a missile that is believed to be a copy of Russia's Kh-35 anti-ship missile. The Kh-35 has a range of about 70 nautical miles and is equipped with a nearly 150kg explosive warhead, designed to fly close to the sea surface to avoid being detected by enemy radar.

Although developed in the final years of the Cold War, the Kh-35 missile was not put into service with the Russian military until 2003. The North Korean version of the missile first appeared in June 2014 in a short North Korean propaganda film. Later, many sources said that North Korea launched a salvo of four Kh-35 missiles into the Sea of ​​Japan on June 7.

Another North Korean weapon that has made a surprise appearance is the Pongae-5 surface-to-air missile system. Dubbed KN-06 by US intelligence agencies, the Pongae-5 is believed to be a copy of the Russian S-300 or Chinese HQ-9 missile systems.

The true capabilities of the Pongae-5 remain a mystery, but its sibling, the S-300, can intercept flying objects at all altitudes and has similar features to older generation Patriot missiles. The Pongae-5 is said to be equipped with a phased array radar similar to the one installed on the S-300. A test launch of the Pongae-5 missile was carried out on May 24 and it was determined that the previous technical errors of the system had been completely resolved, and the system was ready for operation.

The KN-09 system was made in North Korea.

Finally, a new North Korean multiple launch rocket system has emerged. Known as the KN-09, it consists of eight launch tubes containing multiple rockets mounted on a military truck. Experts believe the missiles are equipped with a satellite guidance system, making them highly accurate.

So where did these weapons come from? Military experts have put forward several different theories. First, North Korea may have used espionage. North Korean agents may have contacted Soviet military scientists and engineers after the collapse of the Soviet Union to gain important information to develop new weapons. In the 1990s, when the economy was in trouble, North Korea could not produce weapons, but at present this has become more feasible.

Another theory is that North Korea’s new weapons are based on technology from another country. North Korea had close relations with the former government of Myanmar. Myanmar bought Kh-35 missiles from Russia and may have transferred the technology it obtained from these weapons to North Korea. Meanwhile, the Pongae-5 may have been built based on the technology of the S-300 missile in Syria, while the KN-09 was developed using the Chinese A-100 system that Pakistan bought.

The final theory is that China and Russia have secretly supplied weapons to North Korea. This is something that no one can confirm whether or not it is true. Both China and Russia have long since stopped selling weapons to North Korea, and the risks that could arise from selling weapons to North Korea are very high.

North Korea has shown that it can get what it wants in many ways. The fact that North Korea has been able to produce modern weapons shows that the country has enough human, material and financial resources to ensure its survival and development in the future.

According to Vietnamnet.vn