North Korea has taken delivery of Russian air-defence systems, MSMT claims

The Pantsir air-defence system has a maximum range of 20 km. (Rosoboronexport)

North Korea has taken delivery of an unspecified number of short-range air-defence systems from Russia, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) said in its report on 29 May.

In its report – entitled Unlawful Military Cooperation including Arms Transfers between North Korea and Russia – the MSMT said this equipment includes at least one Pantsir air-defence system.

“The deployment of the Pantsir provides [North Korea] with a more modernised air-defence system compared to its current inventory of legacy Russian systems and its domestically produced systems that have yet to be deployed,” the MSMT report said.

Citing South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the MSMT report said, “Since November 2024 Russia is believed to have provided North Korea with short-range air-defence systems and advanced electronic warfare systems including jamming equipment using Russian cargo aircraft and also transferred operational knowledge.”

According to Janes World Armies, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) mainly operates anti-aircraft guns and manportable air-defence systems, with assets dating back to the 1960s. The KPA also operates several surface-to-air missiles, such as the Hwaseong family of weapons, which are likely to be integrated with the existing air-defence architecture. The Pantsir system will likely be a part of this architecture.

Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Artillery & Air Defence lists Pantsir as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and missile (SPAAGM) system. It consists of an 8×8 wheeled platform and is equipped with two 30 mm cannons and a range of surface-to-air missiles.

According to the MSMT report, Russia also aided North Korea’s ballistic missile programmes by “providing data feedback on ballistic missiles, leading to improvements in missile guidance performance”.