South Korean intelligence has confirmed the transfer of troops from the DPRK to russia under the guise of Buryats, and has made public the routes of the transfer are used. At the moment, we are talking about a "batch" of 1,500 military. In total, there are at least 12,000 North Korean military personnel expected to fight alongside the russian army in the war against Ukraine.
Against this backdrop, the question arises: what kind of tactical missiles should Ukraine request from South Korea to destroy the North Korean contingent in russia? So we can outline at least three options.
Read more: Since russians Started Training on North Korean Howitzers, Let's Review What We Know About DPRK's Artillery
The first option is KTSSM-II missile. It is the South Korean equivalent of ATACMS, which is launched from the K239 Chunmoo rocket artillery system.
The KTSSM-II missile has two variants. The first is the Block I, with a range of up to 180 kilometers and a 500-kilogram warhead, in an anti-bunker design. The second variant is the Block II with a launch range of up to 290 kilometers, with a high-explosive warhead which weight is not disclosed.
However, the possible number of available KTSSM-IIs at the disposal of the South Korean army is not disclosed.
The second option is the Hyunmoo-2 tactical ballistic missiles, which visually resemble the russian Iskander system. We will briefly recall their features.
There are two variants of this family of missiles: Hyunmoo-2A with a range of up to 300 kilometers, and Hyunmoo-2B with a range of 500 to 800 kilometers. The weight and dimensions for both variants are the same: the mass of the warhead is 997 kilograms, the launch mass is 5.4 tons, while the length of the missile body is 12 meters.
The third option is the Hyunmoo-3 ground-launched cruise missile, which is similar in function to the russian Iskander-K.
In this case, there are also two variants of the missiles: Hyunmoo-3A with a launch range of up to 500 kilometers and Hyunmoo-3B with a launch range of up to 1000 kilometers. In both versions, the weight of the warhead is 500 kilograms.
Earlier, Defense Express reported on what makes North Korea's 170-mm Koksan self-propelled artillery special and why it caught the attention of russian propagandists.
Read more: Threat to Ukraine: How North Korea Held Its Only Air Show in 2016 Featuring MiG-29 and Su-25, and What Its Real Combat Aviation Potential Is