SEOUL, Aug 5 — North Korea has moved a missile unit into Russia, comprising 120 ballistic missiles that could potentially target Ukraine, according to officials monitoring the transfer. The deployment marks a significant escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war and a new level of military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, drawing immediate concern from the United States and other Western nations.
The unit is reportedly equipped with short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles, including the Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-7 models. For Asian capitals, the news lands uncomfortably close to home: North Korea is the only country confirmed to have tested nuclear weapons in the 21st century, and its missile forces have long been the most active proliferation source in the region. Analysts note that the transfer builds on a 2024 security treaty between North Korea and Russia, a pact that gave Pyongyang sanctions bypasses and potential technology transfers in exchange for wartime support.
A small but active arsenal
North Korea’s nuclear stockpile is the world’s smallest, estimated at about 60 warheads, with production capacity for six to seven additional warheads per year. But the delivery systems are extensive. The Korean People’s Army Strategic Force is believed to operate more than 360 ballistic missiles — 17 intercontinental-range Hwasong-17s, 27 intermediate- and medium-range Hwasong-12s, and 319 short-range missiles, primarily the Hwasong-11D. The force also fields Hwasal-1 and Hwasal-2 cruise missiles, and is reported to have tactical nuclear weapons in development.
Those numbers help explain why the Russian deployment matters. The missiles sent to Russia are older systems by North Korean standards, but they are being introduced into an active European theater rather than held in reserve on the Korean Peninsula. The move also signals that Pyongyang is willing to expend scarce military assets to cement its relationship with Moscow — a relationship that has already drawn written condemnation from the United Nations, which has called for restraint and diplomacy to end the conflict peacefully.
A record of broken agreements
North Korea’s path to this point spans decades of diplomatic collapse. The country joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1989 but failed to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, triggering a crisis in 1993 when it announced its intent to withdraw. A 1994 Agreed Framework with the United States paused that withdrawal and briefly improved relations, but the framework broke down in 2003. North Korea then expelled IAEA inspectors and announced an immediate NPT withdrawal — a status it retains. The six-party talks that followed made little progress before stalling in 2007.
Its first nuclear test came in 2006, followed by a series of detonations that culminated in six underground tests at Punggye-ri between 2006 and 2017. The United States and its allies have reaffirmed their commitment to defending Ukraine’s sovereignty, while Russia and North Korea have deepened the integration of their defense industries.
The wider history is one of repeated weapons exports. North Korea has previously shipped missiles to Egypt, Iran, Syria and Pakistan, and it assisted the construction of the Al Kibar reactor in Syria’s nuclear weapons program. It also holds one of the world’s largest chemical weapons stockpiles — up to 5,000 tons, including sarin and mustard gas — and is one of only four UN members not to have ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. It remains the only country ever to have announced its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
For India, the development carries a particular edge. North Korea’s missile exports to Pakistan have long been a concern in South Asia, and deepening Pyongyang-Moscow military ties adds a new variable to a regional balance that is already stretched. The conflict in eastern Ukraine, which dates to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, has already produced thousands of casualties and displaced persons; the arrival of North Korean missiles threatens to widen it further.
What to watch now is whether Moscow provides technology transfers in return — the 2024 security treaty already opened that door — and whether the introduction of 120 additional ballistic missiles changes the tactical picture in Ukraine. The UN has urged restraint, but the movement of a foreign missile unit across Russia’s border suggests the diplomacy is running behind events.
