Kim Jong-un watches a new weapons exercise in North Korea, August 22, 2023. AP Image
Artillery shells and anti-tank missiles would be high on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wish list when he meets the North Korean leader. Kim Jong-un, who rarely leaves his country, is planning to travel to the Russian port of Vladivostok next week, according to US intelligence services.
Officially, the two are attending a regional economic conference, US officials report to the New York Times. If it is up to Moscow, a major arms deal will be sealed at the same time. Russia, the world’s second largest arms exporter before the invasion, is after 559 days of war in desperate need of grenades and missiles to keep up the artillery battles. The Russian military has traditionally relied on its artillery to fight wars.
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Stives Ramdharie has been the foreign editor of de Volkskrant for more than 20 years, with defense as his main specialism.
“You can only see this as a sign of desperation and weakness,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said of Russia’s efforts to get weapons from North Korea after supplies from Iran. Since last year, the US regularly warns of Moscow’s advances towards Pyongyang.
Weapons deliveries
In November last year, the White House reported that North Korea had shipped a “significant” amount of grenades to Russia via the Middle East and North Africa. The US now assumes that only a small portion of this munitions, or none at all, reached Russia. According to the White House, the disclosure of the arms shipments would have deterred North Korea, which has been hit by international sanctions, from going further with Moscow.
Pyongyang has a huge artillery force, some 5,700 pieces, and therefore also a huge stock of shells and many factories to make new ammunition. North Korea has pinned its hopes on this superiority of ‘simple weapons’ should it come to a conflict with South Korea and the US.
The then commander of the 28,000 US soldiers in South Korea, General Thomas Schwartz, estimated in 2001 that the North Koreans would be able to fire half a million artillery shells at Seoul and the border region in a few hours. “The only place in the world where 35 million people live under the threat of enemy artillery,” said Schwartz.
1st photo is from North Korea’s past artillery exercise at the shore, 2nd pic from 2017 parade, 3rd is oct.10th 2020 parade, the last is ROK K-9 self propelled artillery. What a surprise?! pic.twitter.com/0Zd7RnShaE
— Dong Yon Kim/Reporter Kim Dong-yeon (@dongyonews) October 11, 2020
Surprise attack
A calculation in 2020 by the American think tank Rand once again showed what the North Koreans have to offer. In an hour, Pyongyang, by firing 385 thousand shells and rockets from 5,700 artillery pieces, could turn all major cities in South Korea into a sea of fire. According to the researchers, about 205 thousand people would be killed or injured in such a surprise attack.
Kim would now be willing to give up part of his huge stockpile of grenades and missiles. The North Korean army has, among other things, 152mm shells for the Russian Msta howitzer. Russia has been using this howitzer, which can fire about eight shells per minute, to crush Ukrainian positions since the invasion.
Artillery consumption
North Korea also has no shortage of 122mm ammunition for another howitzer, the Gvozdika. This howitzer was developed in Soviet times and produced in Kharkiv, Ukraine. That is why the Ukrainian army is also firing with it.
The size of Russian artillery consumption was shown last year by an estimate by the American think tank Jamestown Foundation. In the first five months of the war, the Russians are said to have fired about 68,000 shells and rockets every day from their howitzers and multiple missile systems. That is good for no less than 10.1 million shells and rockets in five months. It is not clear how much artillery ammunition the Russians now have left.
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2023-09-05 15:54:11
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